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THE  GERMAN  SECRET 

SERVICE  IN  AMERICA 

1914-1918 


Cotfrjihu   Jn»tr^«tunai  Film   Service 

Cftu'nt  JoHann.vpn  Bernstorff,  the 
;:;>^^j)onsibie  di/ector  of  Ger- 
•  *•'  mafiy'S  secret    policies 
in  America 


THE  GERMAN   SECRET 

SERVICE  IN  AMERICA 

1914-1918 


BY 
JOHN  PRICE  JONES 

AUTHOR    OF    "AMERICA    ENTANGLED" 
AND 

PAUL  MERRICK  HOLLISTER 


BOSTON 

SMALL,  MAYNARD  &  COMPANY 

PUBLISHERS 


'J 


Copyright,  1918, 

By  small,  MAYNARD  &  COMPANY 
( incorporated) 


"It  is  plain  enough  how  we  were  forced  into  the  war. 
The  extraordinary  insults  and  aggressions  of  the  Imperial 
German  Government  left  us  no  self-respecting  choice  but 
to  take  up  arms  in  defense  of  our  rights  as  a  free  people 
and  of  our  honor  as  a  sovereign  government.  The  mili- 
tary masters  of  Germany  denied  us  the  right  to  be  neu- 
tral. They  filled  our  unsuspecting  communities  with 
vicious  spies  and  conspirators  and  sought  to  corrupt  the 
opinion  of  our  people  in  their  own  behalf.  When  they 
found  they  could  not  do  that,  their  agents  diligently 
spread  sedition  amongst  us  and  sought  to  draw  our  own 
citizens  from  their  allegiance — and  some  of  these  agents 
were  men  connected  with  the  official  embassy  of  the  Ger- 
man Government  itself  here  in  our  own  capital.  They 
sought  by  violence  to  destroy  our  industries  and  arrest 
our  commerce.  They  tried  to  incite  Mexico  to  take  up 
arms  against  us  and  to  draw  Japan  into  a  hostile  alliance 
with  her — and  that,  not  by  indirection  but  by  direct  sug- 
gestion from  the  Foreign  Office  in  Berlin.  They  impu- 
dently denied  us  the  use  of  the  high  seas  and  repeatedly 
executed  their  threat  that  they  would  send  to  their  death 
any  of  our  people  who  ventured  to  approach  the  coasts 
of  Europe.  And  many  of  our  own  people  were  cor- 
rupted. Men  began  to  look  upon  their  neighbors  with 
suspicion  and  to  wonder  in  their  hot  resentment  and 
surprise  whether  there  was  any  community  in  which  hos- 
tile intrigue  did  not  lurk.     What  great  nation  in  such 


38633b 


circumstances  would  not  have  taken  up  arms?  Much  as 
we  have  desired  peace,  it  was  denied  us,  and  not  of  our 
our  own  choice.  This  flag  under  which  we  serve  would 
have  been  dishonored  had  we  withheld  our  hand." 

— WooDROW  Wilson,  Flag  Day  Address 

June  14,  1917 


INTRODUCTION 

A  nation  at  war  wants  nothing  less  than  com- 
plete information  of  her  enemy.  It  is  hard  for 
the  mind  to  conceive  exactly  what  "complete  in- 
formation" means,  for  it  includes  every  fact 
which  may  contain  the  lightest  indication  of  the 
enemy  strength,  her  use  of  that  strength,  and  her 
intention.  The  nation  which  sets  out  to  obtain 
complete  information  of  her  enemy  must  pry  into 
every  neglected  corner,  fish  every  innocent  pool, 
and  collect  a  mass  of  matter  concerning  the  indus- 
trial, social  and  military  organization  of  the 
enemy  which  when  correlated,  appraises  her 
strength — and  her  weakness.  Nothing  less  than 
full  information  will  satisfy  the  mathematical 
maker  of  war. 

Germany  was  always  precociously  fond  of  in- 
ternational statistics.  She  wanted — the  present 
tense  is  equally  applicable — full  information  of 
America  and  her  allies  so  as  to  attack  their  vul- 
nerable points.  She  got  a  ghastly  amount  of  it, 
and  she  attacked.  This  book  sets  forth  how  se- 
cret agents  of  the  Teutonic  governments  acting 
under  orders  have  attacked  our  national  life,  both 
before  and  after  our  declaration  of  war ;  how  men 
and  women  in  Germany's  employ  on  American 


INTRODUCTION 

soil,  planned  and  executed  bribery,  sedition,  ar- 
son, the  destruction  of  property  and  even  mur- 
der, not  to  mention  lesser  violations  of  American 
law ;  how  they  sought  to  subvert  to  the  advantage 
of  the  Central  Powers  the  aims  of  the  Govern- 
ment of  the  United  States;  how,  in  short,  they 
made  enemies  of  the  United  States  immediately 
the  European  war  had  broken  out. 

The  facts  were  obtained  by  the  writer  first  as 
a  reporter  on  the  New  York  Sun  who  for  more 
than  a  year  busied  himself  with  no  other  con- 
cern, and  afterwards  in  an  independent  investi- 
gation. Some  of  them  he  has  cited  in  a  previous 
work.  This  book  brings  the  story  of  Germany's 
secret  agencies  in  America  up  to  the  early  months 
of  19 1 8.  Because  the  writer  during  the  past  six 
months  has  devoted  his  entire  time  to  the  Lib- 
erty Loan,  it  became  necessary  for  him  to  leave 
the  rearrangement  of  the  work  entirely  in  the 
hands  of  the  co-author,  and  he  desires  to  acknowl- 
edge his  complete  indebtedness  to  the  co-author 
for  undertaking  and  carrying  out  an  assignment 
for  w^hich  the  full  measure  of  reward  will  be  de- 
rived from  a  sharper  American  consciousness  of 
the  true  nature  of  our  enemy  at  home  and  abroad. 

So  we  dedicate  this  chronicle  to  our  country. 

John  Price  Jones. 

New  York,  June  i,  19 18. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  PAGE 

I  The  Organization i 

1  he  economic,  diplomatic  and  military  aspects  of 
secret  warfare  ni  America — Germany's  peace-time  or- 
ganization— von  Bernstorff,  the  diplomat — Albert,  the 
economist — von  Papen  and  Boy-Ed,  the  men  of  war. 

II  The  Conspirators'  Task 19 

The  terrain — Lower  New  York — The  consulates — 
The  economic  problem  of  supplying  Germany  and 
checlving  supplies  to  the  Allies — The  diplomatic  prob- 
lem of  keeping  America's  friendship — The  military 
problem  in  Canada,  Mexico,  India,  etc. — Germany's 
denial. 

III  The  Raiders  at  Sea 28 

The  outbreak  of  war — Mobilization  of  reservists — 
The  Hamburg-American  contract — The  Berzvind — The 
Marina  Qticzada — ^The  Sacramento — Naval  battles. 

IV  The  Wireless  System 43 

The  German  Embassy  a  clearing  house — Sayville — 
German's  knowledge  of  U.  S.  wireless — Subsidized 
electrical  companies — Aid  to  the  raiders — The  Einden 
— The  Ceier — Charles  K  Apgar — The  German  code. 

V  Military  Violence 60 

The  plan  to  raid  Canadian  ports — The  first  Welland 
Canal  plot — Von  Papen,  von  der  Goltz  and  Tauscher 
— The  project  abandoned— Goltz's  arrest — The 
Tauscher  trial — Hidden  arms — Louden's  plan  of  inva- 
sion. 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

VI     Paul  Koenig 73 

Justice  and  Metzler — Koenig's  personality — von  Pa- 
pen's  checks — The  "Httle  black  book"— Telephone  codes 
— Shadowing — Koenig's  agents — His  betrayal. 


VII     False  Passports 82 

Hans  von  Wedell's  bureau — The  traffic  in  false 
passports — Carl  Ruroede — Methods  of  forgery — 
Adams'  coup — von  Wedell's  letter  to  von  Bernstorff — 
Stegler — Lody — Berlin  counterfeits  American  passports 
— von  Breechow^. 


VIII     Incendiarism 100 

Increased  munitions  production — The  opening  ex- 
plosions— Orders  from  Berlin — Von  Papen  and  Se- 
attle— July,  191 5 — The  Van  Koolbergen  affai*- — The 
Autumn  of  1915 — The  Pinole  explosion. 


IX     More  Bomb  Plots 117 

Kaltschmidt  and  the  Windsor  explosions — The  Port 
Huron  tunnel — Werner  Horn — Explosions  embarrass 
the  Embassy — Black  Tom — The  second  Welland  affair 
— Harry  Newton — The  damage  done  in  three  years — 
Waiter  spies. 


X    Franz  Von  Rintelen 138 

The  leak  in  the  National  City  Bank — The  Minnehaha 
— Von  Rintelen's  training — His  return  to  America — 
His  aims — His  funds — Smuggling  oil — The  Krag- 
Joergensen  rifles — Von  Rintelen's  flight  and  capture. 


XI     Ship  Bombs 154 

Mobilizing  destroying  agents— The  plotters  in  Ho- 
boken — Von  Kleist's  arrest  and  confession — The  Kirk 
Oszvald  trial — Further  explosions — The  Arabic — Robert 
Fay — His  arrest — The  ship  plots  decrease. 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

XII     Laror 171 

David  Lamar — Labor's  National  Peace  Council — The 
embargo  conference— The  attempted  longshoremen's 
strike — Dr.  Dumba's  recall. 

I XIII     The  Sinking  OF  THE  LusiTANiA  .      .      .      .   190 

The  mistress  of  the  seas — Plotting  in  New  York — 
The  Lusitania's  escape  in  February,  1915 — The  adver- 
tised warning — The  plot — May  7,  1915 — Diplomatic 
correspondence — Gustave  Stahl — The  results. 

XIV  Commercial  Ventures 203 

German  law  in  America^Waetzoldt's  reports — The 
British  blockade — A  report  from  Washington — Stop- 
ping the  chlorine  supply — Speculation  in  wool — Dye- 
stuffs  and  the  Dcutschland — Purchasing  phenol — The 
Bridgeport  Projectile  Company — The  lost  portfolio-^ 
The  recall  of  the  attaches — A  summary  of  Dr.  Albert's 
efforts. 

XV  The  Public  Mind 225 

Dr.  Bertling — The  Staats-Zeitung — George  Sylves- 
ter Viereck  and  The  Fatherland — Efforts  to  buy  a  press 
association — Bernhardi's  articles — Marcus  Braun  and 
Fair  Play — Plans  for  a  German  news  syndicate — San- 
der, Wunnenbcrg,  Bacon  and  motion  pictures — -The 
German-American  Alliance — Its  purposes — Political 
activities — Colquitt  of  Texas — The  "Wisconsin  Plan" 
— Lobbying — Misappropriation  of  German  Red  Cross 
funds — Friends  of  Peace — The  American  Truth  So- 
ciety. 

XVI  Hindu-German  Conspiracies       ....  252 
The   Society  for  Advancement  in   India — "Gaekwar 

Scholarships" — Har  Dyal  and  Gadhr — India  in  1914 — 
Papen's  report — German  and  Hindu  agents  sent  to  the 
Orient — Gupta  in  Japan — The  raid  on  von  Igel's  of- 
fice— Chakravarty  replaces  Gupta — The  Annie  Larsen 
and  Maverick  filibuster — Von  Igel's  memoranda — Har 
Dyal  in  Berlin— A  request  for  anarchist  agents — 
Ram  Chandra — -Plots  against  the  East  and  West  In- 
dies— Correspondence  between  Bernstorff  and  Berlin, 
1916 — Designs  on  China,  Japan  and  Africa — Chakra- 
varty arrested — The  conspirators  indicted. 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

XVII  Mexico,  Ireland,  and  Bolo 228 

Huerta  arrives  in  New  York — The  restoration  plot 
— German  intrigue  in  Central  America — The  Zimmer- 
mann  note — Sinn  Fein — Sir  Roger  Casement  and  the 
Easter  Rebellion — Bolo  Pacha  in  America  and  France 
— A  warning. 

XVIII  America  Goes  to  War 320 

Bernstorff's  request  for  bribe-money — The  Presi- 
dent on  German  spies — Interned  ships  seized — Enemy 
aliens — Interning  German  agents — The  water-front  and 
finger-print  regulations — Pro-German  acts  since  April, 
1917 — A  warning  and  a  prophecy. 

Appendix 335 

A  German  Propagandist. 


List  of  Illustrations 


Count  Johann  von  Bernstorff 


Frontispiece 


The  German   Embassy  in  Washington 
Captain  Franz  von  Papen  . 
Captain  Karl  Boy-Ed 
William  J.   Flynn        .... 
Thomas  J.  Timney     .... 
Dr.  Karl  Buenz  .... 

Passport  given  to  Horst  von  der  Goltz 
Paul  Koenig       ..... 
Hans  von  Wedell  and  his  wife 
Franz  von  Rintelen    .... 
Robert  Fay         ..... 
Dr.  Constantin  Dumba       .         , 
The  Liisitania    ..... 
Advertisement  of  the  German  Embassy 
Checks  signed  by  Adolf  Pavenstedt  . 
George  Sylvester  Viereck  . 
Letter  from  Count  von  Bernstorff 
Check  from  Count  von  Bernstorff 
Letter-paper  of  "  The  Friends  of  Peace " 
Dr.  Chakravarty  .... 

Jeremiah  A.  O'Leary 
Paul  Bolo  Pacha         .... 


12 

i6 

22 
26 
32 
64 

74 
84 
138 
166 
184 
190 
194 
230 

234 
236 
238 
250 
284 
302 
310 


THE  GERMAN  SECRET 

SERVICE  IN  AMERICA 

CHAPTER  I 

THE   ORGANIZATION 

The  economic,  diplomatic  and  military  aspects  of  se- 
cret warfare  in  America — Germany's  peace-time  organi- 
zation— von  Bernstorff,  the  diplomat — Albert,  the  econ- 
omist— von  Papen  and  Boy-Ed,  the  men  of  war. 

When,  in  the  summer  of  1914,  the  loaded  dice 
fell  for  war,  Germany  began  a  campaign  over- 
seas as  thoughtfully  forecasted  as  that  first  head- 
long flood  which  rolled  to  the  Marne.  World- 
domination  was  the  Prussian  objective.  It  is 
quite  natural  that  the  United  States,  whose  in- 
fluence affected  a  large  part  of  the  world,  should 
have  received  swift  attention  from  Berlin. 
America  and  Americans  could  serve  Germany's 
purpose  in  numerous  ways,  and  the  possil)le 
assets  of  the  United  States  had  been  searchingly 
assayed  in  Berlin  long  before  the  arrival  of  *'Der 
Tag." 

The  day  dawned — and  German}^  found  herself 


2     The  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

hemmed  in  by  enemies.  Her  navy  did  not  con- 
trol the  oceans  upon  which  she  had  depended  for 
a  large  percentage  of  her  required  food  and  raw 
materials,  and  upon  which  she  must  continue  to 
depend  if  her  output  were  to  keep  pace  with  her 
war  needs.  If  surprise-attack  should  fail  to 
bring  the  contest  to  a  sudden  and  favorable  con- 
clusion, Germany  was  prepared  to  accept  the 
more  probable  alternative  of  a  contest  of  eco- 
nomic endurance.  Therefore,  she  reasoned,  sup- 
plies must  continue  to  come  from  America. 

Of  importance  scarcely  secondary  to  the  eco- 
nomic phase  of  her  warfare  in  the  United  States 
was  the  diplomatic  problem.  Here  was  a  nation 
of  infinite  resources,  a  people  of  infinite  resource. 
This  nation  must  be  enlisted  on  the  side  of  the 
Central  Powers;  failing  that,  must  be  kept 
friendly;  under  no  circumstances  was  she  to  be 
allowed  to  enlist  with  the  Allies.  One  funda- 
mental trait  of  Americans  Germany  held  too 
lightly — their  blood-kinship  to  Britons — and  it 
is  a  grimly  amusing  commentary  upon  the  con- 
fidence of  the  German  in  bonds  Teutonic  that  he 
believed  that  the  antidote  to  this  racial  'Sveak- 
ness"  of  ours  lay  in  the  large  numbers  of  Ger- 
mans who  had  settled  here  and  become  Americans 
of  sorts.  But  the  German  was  alarmingly  if  not 
absolutely  correct  in  his  estimate,  for  upon  the 


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The  Organization  3 

conduct  and  zeal  of  Germans  in  America  actually 
depended  much  of  the  success  of  Germany's  dip- 
lomatic tactics  in  America. 

The  war,  then,  so  far  as  the  United  States 
figured  in  Germany's  plan,  was  economic  and 
diplomatic.  But  it  was  also  military.  German 
representatives  in  the  United  States  were  bound 
by  oath  to  cooperate  to  their  utmost  in  all  mili- 
tary enterprises  within  their  reach.  With  a  cer- 
tain few  notable  exceptions,  no  such  enterprises 
came  within  their  reach,  and  if  the  reader  antici- 
pates from  that  fact  a  disappointing  lack  of  vio- 
lence in  the  narrative  to  follow,  let  him  remember 
that  "all's  fair  in  war,"  and  that  every  German 
activity  in  the  United  States,  whether  it  was  eco- 
nomic, diplomatic  or  military,  was  carried  on 
with  a  certain  Prussian  thoroughness  which  was 
chiefly  characterized  by  brutal  violence. 

We  have  come  to  believe  that  thoroughness  is 
the  first  and  last  word  in  German  organiza- 
tion. Any  really  thorough  organization  must  be 
promptly  convertible  to  new  activities  without 
loss  of  motion.  If  these  new  activities  are  unex- 
pected, the  change  is  more  or  less  of  an  experi- 
ment, and  its  possibilities  are  not  ominous.  But 
truly  dangerous  is  the  organization  which  trans- 
fers suddenly  to  coping  with  the  expected.  Ger- 
many  had  expected  war  for.fortx-y£ars> 


4     The  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

Her  peace-time  organization  in  America  con- 
sisted of  four  executives :  an  ambassador,  a  fiscal 
agent,  a  military  attache,  and  a  naval  attache. 
Its  chief  was  the  ambassador,  comparable  in  his 
duties  and  privileges  to  the  president  of  a  cor- 
poration, the  representative  with  full  authority  to 
negotiate  with  other  organizations,  and  respon- 
sible to  his  board  of  directors — the  foreign  office 
in  Berlin.  Its  treasurer  was  the  fiscal  agent. 
And  its  department  heads  were  the  military  and 
naval  attaches,  each  responsible  in  some  degree 
to  his  superiors  in  matters  of  policy  and  finances, 
and  answerable  also  to  Berlin. 

The  functions  of  the  chief  were  two-fold.  Con- 
vincing evidence  produced  by  the  State  Depart- 
ment has  placed  at  his  door  the  ultimate  responsi- 
bility for  executing  Germany's  commands  not  in 
the  United  States  alone,  but  throughout  all  of  the 
world  excepting  Middle  Europe.  Under  his 
eyes  passed  Berlin's  instructions  to  her  envoys 
in  both  Americas,  and  through  his  hands  passed 
their  reports.  He  directed  and  delegated  the 
administration  of  all  German  policy  in  the  west- 
ern world  and  the  far  east,  and  of  course  directed 
all  strictly  diplomatic  enterprises  afoot  in  the 
United  States. 

Germany  could  hardly  have  chosen  an  abler 
envoy  than  this  latest  of  all  the  Bernstorffs,  Jo- 


The  Organizatwn  5 

hann,  a  statesman  whose  ancestors  for  genera- 
tions had  been  Saxon  diplomats.  A  glance  at 
the  man's  countenance  convinced  one  of  his  pow- 
ers of  concentration:  the  many  lines  of  his  face 
seemed  to  focus  on  a  point  between  his  eyebrows. 
And  yet  his  expression  was  hardly  grim.  The 
modeling  of  his  head  was  unusually  strong,  his 
features  sensitive,  with  no  trace  of  weakness.  If 
there  had  been  weakness  about  his  mouth,  it 
was  concealed  by  the  conventional  ferocity  of  a 
Hohenzollern  moustache,  and  yet  those  untruth- 
ful lips  could  part  in  an  ingratiating  smile  which 
flashed  ingenuous  friendliness.  His  frame  was 
tall  and  slender,  his  mannerisms  suggested  care- 
fully bridled  nervous  activity.  The  entire  ap- 
pearance of  the  man  may  best  be  described  by  a 
much-abused  term — he  was  "distinguished." 

Count  von  Bernstorff,  once  his  nation  had  de- 
clared war  upon  France  and  England,  went  to 
war  with  the  United  States.  As  ambassador, 
diplomatic  courtesy  gave  him  a  scope  of  observa- 
tion limited  only  by  the  dignity  of  his  position. 
A  seat  in  a  special  gallery  in  the  Senate  and 
House  of  Representatives  was  always  ready  for 
his  occupancy;  he  could  virtually  command  the 
attention  of  the  White  House ;  and  senators,  con- 
gressmen and  office-holders  from  German- Amer- 
ican districts  respected  him.     Messengers  kept 


6     The  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

him  in  constant  touch  with  the  Hne-up  of  Con- 
gress on  important  issues,  and  two  hours  later 
that  line-up  was  known  in  the  Foreign  Office  in 
Berlin.  As  head  and  front  of  the  German  spy 
system  in  America,  he  held  cautiously  aloof  from 
all  but  the  most  instrumental  acquaintances :  men 
and  women  of  prominent  political  and  social  in- 
fluence who  he  knew  were  inclined,  for  good  and 
sufficient  reasons,  to  help  him.  One  woman, 
whose  bills  he  paid  at  a  Fifth  Avenue  gown  house, 
was  the  wife  of  a  prominent  broker  and  another 
woman  of  confessedly  German  affiliations  who 
served  him  lived  within  a  stone's  throw, ^of  the 
J\Ietropolitan  Museum  and  its  nearby  phalanx  of 
gilded  dwellings  (her  husband's  office  was  in  a 
building  at  1 1  Broadway,  of  which  more  anon)  ; 
a  third  woman  intimate  lived  In  a  comfortable 
apartment  near  Fifth  Avenue — an  apartment  se- 
lected for  her,  though  she  was  unaware  of  It,  by 
secret  agents  of  the  United  States.  During  the 
early  days  of  the  war  the  promise  of  social  spon- 
sorship which  any  embassy  in  Washington  could 
extend  proved  bait  for  a  number  of  ingenues  of 
various  ages,  with  ambition  and  mischief  In  their 
minds,  and  the  gracious  Ambassador  played  them 
smoothly  and  dexterously.  Mostly  they  were  not 
German  women,  for  the  German  women  of  Amer- 
ica were  not  so  likely  to  be  useful  socially,  nor  as 


The  Organization  7 

a  type  so  astute  as  to  qualify  them  for  von  Berns- 
torff's  delicate  work.  To  those  whom  he  chose 
to  see  he  was  courteous,  and  superficially  frank 
almost  to  the  point  of  naivete.  The  pressure  of 
negotiation  between  Washington  and  Berlin  be- 
came more  and  more  exacting  as  the  war  pro- 
gressed, yet  he  found  time  to  command  a  cam- 
paign w^hose  success  would  have  resulted  in  dis- 
aster to  the  United  States.  That  he  w^as  not 
blamed  for  the  failure  of  that  campaign  when 
he  returned  to  Germany  in  April,  19 17,  is  evi- 
denced by  his  prompt  appointment  to  the  court 
of  Turkey,  a  difficult  and  important  post,  and  in 
the  case  of  Michaelis,  a  stepping-stone  to  the 
highest  post  in  the  Foreign  Office. 

Upon  the  shoulders  of  Dr.  Heinrich  Albert, 
privy  counsellor  and  fiscal  agent  of  the  German 
Empire,  fell  the  practical  execution  of  German 
propaganda  throughout  America.  He  was  the 
American  agent  of  a  government  which  has  done 
more  than  any  other  to  cooperate,  with  business 
towards  the  extension  of  influence  abroad,  on  the 
principle  that  ''the  flag  follows  the  constitution." 
As  such  he  had  had  his  finger  on  the  pulse  of 
American  trade,  had  catalogued  exhaustively  the 
economic  resources  of  the  country,  and  held  in 
his  debt,  as  his  nation's  treasurer  in  America, 
scores  of  bankers,  manufacturers  and  traders  to 


8     The  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

whom  Germany  had  extended  subsidy.  As  such 
also  he  was  the  paymaster  of  the  Imperial  secret 
diplomatic  and  consular  agents. 

You  could  find  him  almost  any  day  until  the 
break  with  Germany  in  a  small  office  in  the  Ham- 
burg-American Building  (a  beehive  of  secret 
agents)  at  No.  45  Broadway,  New  York.  He 
was  tall  and  slender,  and  wore  the  sombre  frock 
coat  of  the  European  business  man  with  real 
grace.  His  eyes  were  blue  and  clear,  his  face 
clean-shaven  and  faintly  sabre-scarred,  and  his 
hair  blond.  He  impressed  one  as  an  unusual 
young  man  in  a  highly  responsible  position.  His 
greeting  to  visitors,  of  whom  he  had  few,  was 
punctilious,  his  bow  low,  and  his  manner  alto- 
gether polite.  He  encouraged  conversation 
rather  than  offered  it.  He  had  none  of  the  ''hard 
snap"  of  the  energetic,  outspoken,  brusque 
American  man  of  business.  Dr.  Albert  was  a 
smooth-running,  well-turned  cog  in  the  great 
machine  of  Prussian  militarism. 

Upon  him  rested  the  task  of  spending  between 
$2,000,000  and  $3,000,000  a  week  for  German 
propaganda.  He  spent  thirty  millions  at  least — 
and  only  Germany  knows  how  much  more — in 
secret  agency  work,  also  known  by  the  uglier 
names  of  bribery,  sedition  and  conspiracy.  He 
admitted    that    he    wasted    a    half    million    or 


The  Organization  9 

more.  He  had  a  joint  account  with  Bernstorff 
in  the  Chase  National  Bank,  New  York,  which 
amounted  at  times  to  several  millions.  His  re- 
sources gave  weight  to  his  utterances  in  the  quiet 
office  overlooking  Broadway,  or  in  the  German 
Club  in  Central  Park  South,  or  in  the  consulates 
or  hotels  of  Chicago  and  New  Orleans  and  San 
Francisco,  to  which  he  made  occasional  trips  to 
confer  with  German  business  men. 

His  colleagues  held  him  in  high  esteem.  His 
methods  were  quiet  and  successful,  and  his  par- 
ticipation in  the  offences  against  America's  peace 
might  have  passed  unproven  had  he  not  been  en- 
gaged in  a  too-absorbing  conversation  one  day  in 
August,  1915,  upon  a  Sixth  Avenue  elevated 
train.  He  started  up  to  leave  the  train  at 
Fiftieth  Street,  and  carelessly  left  his  portfolio 
behind  him — to  the  tender  care  of  a  United  States 
Secret  Service  man.  It  contained  documents  re- 
vealing his  complicity  in  enterprises  the  magni- 
tude of  which  beggars  the  imagination.  The 
publication  of  certain  of  those  documents  awoke 
the  slumbering  populace  to  a  feeling  of  chagrin 
and  anger  almost  equal  to  his  own  at  the  loss  of 
his  dossier.  And  yet  he  stayed  on  in  America, 
and  returned  wnth  the  ambassadorial  party  to 
Germany  only  after  the  severance  of  diplomatic 
relations  in  19 17,  credited  with  expert  general- 


10     The  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

ship  on  the  economic  sector  of  the  American 
front. 

Germany's  military  attache  to  the  United 
States  was  Captain  Franz  von  Papen.  His  mis- 
sion was  the  study  of  the  United  States  army. 
In  August,  1 9 14,  it  may  be  assumed  that  he  had 
absorbed  most  of  the  useful  information  of  the 
United  States  army,  which  at  that  moment  was 
no  superhuman  problem.  In  July  of  that  year 
he  was  in  Mexico,  observing,  among  other  mat- 
ters, the  effect  of  dynamite  explosions  on  rail- 
ways. He  was  quite  familiar  with  Mexico.  Ac- 
cording to  Admiral  von  Hintze  he  had  organized 
a  military  unit  in  the  lukewarm  German  colony 
in  Mexico  City,  and  he  used  one  or  more  of  the 
warring  factions  in  the  southern  republic  to  test 
the  efficacy  of  various  means  of  warfare. 

The  rumble  of  a  European  war  sent  him  scur- 
rying northward.  From  Mexico  on  July  29  he 
wired  Captain  Boy-Ed — of  whom  more  presently 
— in  New  York  to 

*'.  .  .  arrange  business  for  me  too  with  Pavenstedt," 

which  referred  to  the  fact  that  Boy-Ed  had  just 
engaged  office  space  in  the  offices  of  G,  Amsinck 
&  Company,  New  York,  which  was  at  that  time 
a  German  house  of  which  Adolph  Pavenstedt 
was   the   president,   but   which   has   since   been 


The  Organization  11 

taken  over  by  American  interests.  And  he 
added : 

"Then  inform  Lersner.  The  Russian  attache  ordered 
back  to  Washington  by  telegraph.  On  outbreak  of  war 
have  intermediaries  locate  by  detective  where  Russian  and 
French  intelligence  office." 

The  latter  part  of  the  message  is  open  to  two  in- 
terpretations :  that  Boy-Ed  was  to  have  detectives 
locate  the  Russian  and  French  secret  service  offi- 
cers; or  that  Boy-Ed  was  to  place  German  spies 
in  those  offices. 

Captain  von  Papen  reported  to  his  ministry  of 
war  anent  the  railway  explosions : 

"I  consider  it  out  of  the  question  that  explosives  pre- 
pared in  this  way  would  have  to  be  reckoned  with  in  a 
European  war  .  .  ." 

a  significant  opinion,  which  he  changed  later. 

What  of  the  man  himself?  He  was  all  that 
^'German  officer"  suggested  at  that  time  to  any 
one  who  had  traveled  in  Germany.  His  military 
training  had  been  exhaustive.  Though  he  had 
not  seen  "active  service,"  his  life,  from  the  early 
youth  when  he  had  been  selected  from  his  gym- 
nasium fellows  for  secret  service  in  Abteilung 
HI  of  the  great  bureau,  had  been  unusually  ac- 
tive. He  had  traveled  as  a  civilian  over  various 
countries,  drawing  maps,  harking  to  the  senti- 


12     The  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

ment  of  the  people,  and  checking  from  time  to 
time  the  operations  of  resident  German  agents 
abroad.  His  disguises  were  thorough,  as  this 
incident  will  illustrate:  In  Hamburg,  at  the 
army  riding  school  where  von  Papen  was  trained, 
young  officers  are  taught  the  French  style.  Yet 
one  fine  morning  in  Central  Park  he  stopped  to 
chat  with  an  acquaintance  who  had  bought  a 
mare.  V'on  Papen  admired  the  mount,  promptly 
named  its  breed,  and  told  in  what  counties  in  Ire- 
land the  best  specimens  of  that  breed  could  be 
found — information  called  up  from  a  riding  tour 
he  had  made  over  the  length  and  breadth  of  Ire- 
land. It  is  commonly  said  that  horsemen  trained 
in  the  French  style  cling  to  its  mannerisms,  but 
a  cavalier  revealing  those  mannerisms  in  Ireland, 
where  the  style  is  exclusively  English,  would  have 
attracted  undue  attention.  So  he  had  disguised 
even  his  horsemanship ! 

A  man  who  moves  constantly  about  among 
more  or  less  unsuspecting  peoples  seeking  their 
military  weakness  becomes  intolerant.  Toler- 
ance is  scarcely  a  German  military  trait,  and  in 
that  respect  Captain  von  Papen  was  consistently 
loyal  to  his  own  superior  organization.  'T  al- 
ways say  to  those  idiotic  Yankees  they  had  better 
hold  their  tongues,"  he  wrote  to  his  wife  in  a 
letter  which  fell  later  into  the  hands  of  those  same 


Copyright.    Inttrnathnal   Seivi    Servict 

Captain  Franz  von  Papen 


The  Organization  13 

"bloedsinnige"  Yankees.  He  was  inordinately 
proud  of  his  facility  in  operating  unobserved,  ar- 
rogant of  his  ability,  and  blunt  in  his  criticism 
of  his  associates.  He  telegraphed  Boy-Ed  on  one 
occasion  to  be  more  cautious.  The  gracious  col- 
league replied,  in  a  letter: 

"Dear  Papen:  A  secret  agent  who  returned  from 
Washington  this  evening  made  the  following  statement: 
'The  Washington  people  are  very  much  excited  about  von 
Papen  and  are  having  a  constant  watch  kept  on  him. 
They  are  in  possession  of  a  whole  heap  of  incriminating 
evidence  against  him.  They  have  no  evidence  against 
Count  B.  and  Captain  B-E  (!).'" 

And  Boy-Ed,  a  trifle  optimistically,  perhaps, 
added : 

*Tn  this  connection  I  would  suggest  with  due  diffidence 
that  perhaps  the  first  part  of  your  telegram  is  worded 
rather  too  emphatically." 

Von  Papen  was  a  man  of  war,  a  Prussian,  the 
Feldmarschal  of  the  Kaiser  in  America.  In  ap- 
pearance he  bespoke  his  vigor :  he  was  well  set  up, 
rawboned,  with  a  long  nose,  prominent  ears,  keen 
eyes  and  a  strong  lower  jaw.  He  was  energetic 
In  speech  and  swift  In  formulating  daring  plans. 
In  those  first  frantic  weeks  after  the  declaration 
of  war  he  reached  out  In  all  directions  to  snap 
taut  the  strings  that  held  his  organization  to- 


14     The  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

gether — German  reservists  who  had  been  peace- 
ful farmers,  shopkeepers  or  waiters,  all  over  the 
United  States,  were  mobilized  for  service,  and 
paraded  through  Battery  Park  in  New  York 
shouting  "Deutschland,  Deutschland  ueber  alles !" 
to  the  strains  of  the  Austrian  hymn,  while  they 
waited  for  Papen's  orders  from  a  building  near 
by,  and  picked  quarrels  with  a  counter  procession 
of  Frenchmen  screaming  the  immortal  "Marseil- 
laise." Up  in  his  office  sat  the  attache,  summon- 
ing, assigning,  despatching  his  men  on  missions 
that  were  designed  to  terrorize  America  as  the 
spiked  helmets  were  terrorizing  Belgium  at  that 
moment. 

And  he,  too,  failed.  Although  von  Papen  mar- 
shaled his  consuls,  his  reservists,  his  thugs,  his 
women,  and  his  skilled  agents,  for  a  programme 
of  violence  the  like  of  which  America  had  never 
experienced,  the  military  phase  of  the  war  was 
not  destined  for  decision  here,  and  there  is  again 
something  ironical  in  the  fact  that  the  arrogance 
of  Captain  von  Papen's  outrages  hastened  the 
coming  of  war  to  America  and  the  decline  of  Cap- 
tain von  Papen's  style  of  warfare  in  America. 

The  Kaiser's  naval  attache  at  Washington  was 
Karl  Boy-Ed,  the  child  of  a  German  mother  and 
a  Turkish  father,  who  had  elected  a  naval  career 
and  shown  a  degree  of  aptitude  for  his  work 


The  Organization  15 

which  qualified  him  presently  for  the  post  of  chief 
lieutenant  to  von  Tirpitz.  He  was  one  of  the 
six  young  officers  who  were  admitted  to  the  chief 
councils  of  the  German  navy,  as  training  for  high 
executive  posts.  In  the  capacity  of  news  chief 
of  the  Imperial  navy,  Boy-Ed  carried  on  two 
highly  successful  press  campaigns  to  influence 
the  public  on  the  eve  of  requests  for  heavy  naval 
appropriations,  the  second,  in  1910,  calling 
for  400,000,000  marks.  He  spread  broadcast 
through  cleverly  contrived  pamphlets  and  through 
articles  placed  in  the  subsidized  press,  a  national 
resentment  against  British  naval  dominion.  His 
duties  took  him  all  over  the  world  as  naval  ob- 
server, and  he  may  be  credited  more  than  casu- 
ally with  weaving  the  plan-fabric  of  marine  su- 
premacy with  which  Germany  proposed  in  due 
time  to  envelop  the  world. 

So  he  impressed  diplomatic  Washington  in 
191 1  as  a  polished  cosmopolite.  Polished  he  was, 
measured  by  the  standards  of  diplomatic  Wash- 
ington, for  rare  was  the  young  American  of 
Boy-Ed's  age  who  had  his  cultivation,  his  wide 
experience,  and  his  brilliant  charm.  He  was 
sought  after  by  admiring  mothers  long  before 
he  was  sought  after  by  the  Secret  Service;  he 
moved  among  the  clubs  of  Washington  and  New 
York  making  intimates  of  men  whose  friendship 


16     The  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

and  confidence  would  serve  the  Fatherland,  cloak- 
ing his  real  designs  by  frivolity  and  frequent 
attendances  at  social  functions.  His  peace-time 
duties  had  been  to  study  the  American  navy;  to 
familiarize  himself  with  its  ship  power  and  per- 
sonnel, with  its  plans  for  expansion,  its  theories 
of  strategy,  its  means  of  supply,  and  finally,  with 
the  coast  defenses  of  the  country.  He  had 
learned  his  lesson,  and  furnished  Berlin  with 
clear  reports.  On  those  reports,  together  with 
those  of  his  colleagues  in  other  countries,  hinged 
Germany's  readiness  to  enter  war,  for  it  would 
have  been  folly  to  attempt  a  war  of  domination 
with  America  an  unknown,  uncatalogued  naval 
power.  (It  will  be  well  to  recall  that  the  sub- 
marine is  an  American  invention,  and  that  Ger- 
many's greatest  submarine  development  took 
place  in  the  years  1911-1914.) 

And  then,  suddenly,  he  dropped  the  cloak. 
The  Turk  in  him  stood  at  attention  while  the 
German  in  him  gave  him  sharp  orders — com- 
mands to  be  carried  out  with  Oriental  adroitness 
and  Prussian  finish.  Then  those  who  had  said 
lightly  that  "Boy-Ed  knows  more  about  our  navy 
than  Annapolis  itself"  began  to  realize  that  they 
had  spoken  an  alarming  truth.  His  war  duties 
were  manifold.  Like  von  Papen,  he  had  his 
corps  of  reservists,  his  secret  agents,  his  silent 


Coff'i^ht,    Jnttrnational   i^evus    Seruict 


Captain  Karl  Boy-Ed   (on  the  right) 


The  Organization  17 

forces  everywhere  ready  for  active  cooperation 
in  carrying  out  the  naval  enterprises  Germany 
should  see  fit  to  undertake  in  Western  waters. 

America  learned  gradually  of  the  machinations 
of  the  four  executives,  Bernstorff,  Albert,  Papen 
and  Boy-Ed.  America  had  not  long  to  wait  for 
evidences  of  their  activity,  but  it  was  a  long  time 
before  the  processes  of  investigation  revealed 
their  source.  It  was  inevitable  that  they  could 
not  work  undiscovered  for  long,  and  they  seem 
to  have  realized  that  they  must  do  the  utmost 
damage  at  top  speed.  Their  own  trails  were  cov- 
ered for  a  time  by  the  obscure  identities  of  their 
subordinates.  The  law  jumps  to  no  conclusions. 
Their  own  persons  were  protected  by  diplomatic 
courtesy.  It  required  more  than  tv/o  years  of 
tedious  search  for  orthodox  legal  evidence  to 
arraign  these  men  publicly  in  their  guilt,  and 
when  that  evidence  had  finally  been  obtained,  and 
Germany's  protest  of  innocence  had  been  de- 
flated, it  was  not  these  men  who  suffered,  but 
their  country,  and  the  price  she  paid  was  war 
with  America. 

A  hundred  or  more  of  their  subordinates  have 
been  convicted  of  various  criminal  offenses  and 
sent  to  prison.  Still  more  were  promptly  in- 
terned in  prisoai  camps  at  the  outbreak  of  war  in 
1917.     The  secret  army  included  all  types,  from 


18    The  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

bankers  to  longshoremen.  Many  of  them  were 
conspicuous  figures  in  American  public  life,  and 
of  these  no  small  part  were  allowed  to  remain 
at  large  under  certain  restrictions — and  under 
surveillance.  Germany's  army  in  the  United 
States  was  powerful  in  numbers ;  the  fact  that  so 
many  agents  were  working  destruction  probably 
hastened  their  discovery;  the  loyalty  of  many  so- 
called  German-Americans  was  always  question- 
able. The  public  mind,  confused  as  it  had  never 
been  before  by  the  news  of  war,  was  groping 
about  for  sound  fundamentals,  and  was  being 
tantalized  with  false  principles  by  the  politicians. 
Meanwhile  Count  von  Bernstorff  was  watching 
Congress  and  the  President,  Dr.  Albert  was  busy 
in  great  schemes,  Captain  von  Papen  was  com- 
manding an  active  army  of  spies,  and  Captain 
Boy-Ed  was  engaged  in  a  bitter  fight  with  the 
British  navy. 


CHAPTER  II 

THE    conspirators'    TASK 

The  terrain — Lower  New  York — The  consulates — The 
economic  problem  of  supplying  Germany  and  checking 
supplies  to  the  Allies — The  diplomatic  problem  of  keep- 
ing America's  friendship — The  military  problem  in  Can- 
ada, Mexico,  India,  etc. — Germany's  denial. 

The  playwright  selects  from  the  affairs  of  a 
group  of  people  a  few  characters  and  incidents, 
and  works  them  together  into  a  three-hour  plot. 
He  may  include  no  matter  which  is  not  relevant 
to  the  development  of  his  story,  and  although  in 
the  hands  of  the  artist  the  play  seems  to  pierce 
clearly  into  the  characters  of  the  persons  in- 
volved, in  reality  he  is  constructing  a  framework, 
whose  angles  are  only  the  more  prominent 
salients  of  character  and  episode.  The  stage 
limits  him,  whether  his  story  takes  place  in  the 
kitchen  or  on  the  battlefield. 

The  drama  of  German  spy  operations  in  Amer- 
ica is  of  baffling  proportions.  Its  curtain  rose 
long  before  the  war;  its  early  episodes  were 
grave  enough  to  have  caused,  any  one  of  them,  a 

19 


20     The  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

nine-days'  wonder  in  the  press,  its  climax  was 
rather  a  huge  accumulation  of  intolerable  disas- 
ters than  a  single  outstanding  incident,  and  its 
denouement  continued  long  after  America's  decla- 
ration of  war.  In  the  previous  chapter  we  have 
accepted  our  limitations  and  introduced  only  the 
four  chief  characters  of  the  play.  It  is  neces- 
sary, in  describing  the  motives  for  their  enter- 
prises, to  appreciate  the  problems  which  their 
scene  of  operations  presented. 

The  world  was  their  workshop.  Plots  hatched 
in  Berlin  and  developed  in  Washington  and  New 
York  bore  fruit  from  Sweden  to  India,  from  Can- 
ada to  Chili.  The  economic  importance  of  the 
United  States  in  the  war  needs  no  further  proof 
than  its  vast  area,  its  miles  of  seacoast,  its  vol- 
ume of  export  and  import,  and  its  producing 
power.  As  a  diplomatic  problem  it  offered, 
among  other  things,  a  public  opinion  of  a  hundred 
million  people  of  parti-colored  temperament, 
played  upon  by  a  force  of  some  40,000  publica- 
tions. As  a  military  factor,  the  United  States 
possessed  a  strong  fleet,  owned  the  only  Atlantic- 
Pacific  waterway,  was  bounded  on  the  south  by 
Mexico  and  the  coveted  Gulf,  and  on  the  north 
by  one  of  Germany's  enemies.  There  was  hardly 
a  developed  section  of  the  nation  which  did  not 
require  prompt  and  radical  German  attention,  or 


The  Conspirators'  Task  21 

one  which  did  not  receive  it  in  proportion  to  its 
industrial  development.  Washington,  as  the 
governmental  capital,  and  New  York  as  the  real 
capital  became  at  once  the  headquarters  of  Ger- 
man operations  in  the  western  world. 

Count  von  Bernstorff  directed  all  enterprises 
from  the  Imperial  Embassy  in  Washington,  and 
from  the  Ritz-Carlton  in  New  York.  An  ambas- 
sador was  once  asked  by  an  ingenuous  woman  at 
a  New  York  dinner  whether  he  often  ran  counter 
of  European  spies.     "Oh,  yes,"  he  replied.     ''I 

used  to  stop  at  the  ,  but  my  baggage  was 

searched  by  German  agents  so  often  that  I  moved 

to  the  .     But  there  it  was  just  as  bad." 

"Didn't  you  complain  to  the  management?" — the 
lady  wanted  particulars.  "No,"  the  diplomat  an- 
swered naturally,  "for  you  see  every  time  Berns- 
torff  stops    at   the   I    have   his   baggage 

searched,  too!" 

The  strands  of  intrigue  focussed  from  every 
corner  of  America  upon  the  lower  tip  of  Man- 
hattan. In  a  tall  building  at  1 1  Broadway,  which 
towers  over  Bowling  Green  and  confronts  the 
New  York  Custom  House,  Captain  Boy-Ed  had 
his  office.  A  long  stone's  throw  to  the  northward 
stood  the  Hamburg- American  building;  there  Dr. 
Albert  carried  on  much  of  his  business.  Captain 
von  Papen  had  offices  on  the  twenty-fifth  floor 


22     The  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

of  No.  60  Wall  Street.  If  we  regard  11  Broad- 
way as  the  tip  of  a  triangle,  with  Wall  Street  and 
Broadway  forming  its  right  angle  and  60  Wall 
Street  as  its  other  extremity,  we  find  that  its 
imaginary  hypotenuse  travels  through  the  build- 
ing of  J.  P.  Morgan  &  Company,  chief  bankers 
for  the  Allies ;  through  the  New  York  Stock  Ex- 
change, where  the  so-called  "Christmas  leak" 
turned  a  pretty  penny  for  certain  German  sym- 
pathizers in  191 6;  through  the  home  of  the  Stand- 
ard Oil  Companies,  as  well  as  through  several 
great  structures  of  less  strategic  importance. 
There  is  more  than  mere  coincidence  in  this  geo- 
metrical freak — Germany  held  her  stethoscope  as 
close  as  possible  to  the  heart  of  American  busi- 
ness. Fortunately,  however,  the  offices  of  Chief 
William  J.  Flynn — until  January,  1918,  head  of 
the  United  States  Secret  Service — were  in  the 
Custom  House  near  by. 

After  business  hours  these  men  met  their  sub- 
ordinates at  various  rendezvous  in  the  city;  the 
hotels  were  convenient,  the  Manhattan  was  fre- 
quently appointed,  and  the  Deutscher  Verein  at 
112  Central  Park  South  was  the  liveliest  ganglion 
of  all  the  nerve  centers  of  a  system  of  communi- 
cation which  tapped  every  section  of  the  great 
community. 

In  the  lesser  cities  the  German  consulate  served 


|m.  "^^'^  '^i 

1 

p 

1^^ 

I 

. 

>9h^^h 

■ 

1 

tmj^^^^r^^ 

a 

El 

i 

Copyright,    Jnternatianal  Viln 


William  J.  Flynn,  chief  of  the  United  States  Secret  Service 
until  19 18,  who  led  the  hunt  of  the  German  spy 


The  Conspirators'  Task  23 

as  the  nucleus  for  the  organization.  That  in  San 
Francisco  is  conspicuous  for  its  activity,  for  it 
prosecuted  its  own  warfare  on  the  entire  Pacific 
coast.  Wherever  it  was  necessary  German  sym- 
pathizers furnished  accommodations  for  offices 
and  storage  room.  Headquarters  of  every  char- 
acter dotted  the  country  from  salons  to  saloons, 
from  skyscrapers  to  cellars,  each  an  active  control 
in  the  manipulation  of  Germany's  almost  innum- 
erable enterprises. 

Those  enterprises  may  be  best  outlined  per- 
haps, by  recalling  the  three  phases  of  warfare 
which  Germany  had  to  pursue.  America  had 
shipped  foodstuffs  and  raw  materials  in  enormous 
quantities  for  many  years  to  Germany.  Dr.  Al- 
bert must  see  to  it  that  she  continue  to  do  so. 
The  Imperial  funds  were  at  his  disposal.  He 
had  already  the  requisite  contact  with  American 
business.  But  let  him  also  exert  his  utmost  influ- 
ence upon  America  to  stop  supplying  the  Allies. 
If  he  could  do  it  alone,  so  much  the  better ;  if  not, 
he  was  at  liberty  to  call  upon  the  military  and 
naval  attaches.  But  in  any  case  ''food  and  arms 
for  Germany  and  none  for  the  Allies"  was  the 
economic  war-cry. 

American  supplies  must  be  purchased  for  Ger- 
many and  shipped  through  the  European  neutral 
nations,  running  the  blockade.     If  capital  proved 


24     The  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

obstinate  and  the  Allies  covered  the  market,  it 
would  be  well  to  remember  that  labor  produced 
supplies ;  labor  must  therefore  be  prevented  from 
producing  or  shipping  to  the  Allies.  If  labor  re- 
fused to  be  interfered  with,  the  cargoes  should  be 
destroyed. 

His  enormous  task  would  depend,  of  course, 
very  much  upon  the  turn  of  affairs  diplomatic. 
The  State  Department  must  be  kept  amicable. 
The  Glad  Hand  was  to  be  extended  to  official 
America,  while  the  Mailed  Fist  thrashed  about 
in  official  America's  constituencies.  Thus  also 
with  Congress,  through  influential  lobbying  or 
the  pressure  of  constituents.  Count  von  Berns- 
torff  knew  that  the  shout  raised  in  a  far-off  state 
by  a  few  well-rehearsed  pacifists,  reinforced  by  a 
few  newspaper  comments,  would  carry  loud  and 
clear  to  Washington.  Upon  his  shoulders  rested 
the  entire  existence  of  the  German  plan,  and  he 
spent  a  highly  active  and  trying  thirty  months  in 
Washington  in  an  attempt  to  avoid  the  inevitable 
diplomatic  rupture. 

The  military  problem  quickly  resolved  itself 
into  two  enterprises ;  carrying  war  to  the  enemy, 
and  giving  aid  and  comfort  to  its  own  forces — 
in  this  case  the  German  navy.  As  the  war  pro- 
gressed, and  the  opportunity  for  strictly  military 
operations  became  less  likely,  the  two  Captains 


The  Conspirators'  Task  25 

occupied  their  time  in  injecting  a  quite  military 
flavor  into  the  enterprises  Bernstorff  and  Albert 
had  on  foot.  As  a  strategic  measure  Mexico 
must  divert  America's  attention  from  Europe  and 
remove  to  the  border  her  available  forces. 
Meanwhile,  German  reservists  must  be  supplied 
to  their  home  regiments.  Failing  that  they  must 
be  mobilized  for  service  against  Germany's  near- 
est enemy  here — Canada.  German  raiders  at  sea 
must  be  supplied.  German  communication  with 
her  military  forces  abroad  must  be  maintained 
uninterrupted. 

Long  after  the  departure  of  the  principals  for 
their  native  land  the  enterprises  persisted.  It 
may  be  well  here  to  extend  to  the  secret  agents  of 
the  United  States  the  tribute  which  is  their  due. 
To  Chief  Flynn,  of  the  United  States  Secret 
Service  of  the  Treasury  Department,  to  A.  Bruce 
Bielaski,  head  of  the  special  agents  of  the  De- 
partment of  Justice,  to  W.  M.  Offley,  former 
Superintendent  of  the  New  York  Bureau  of  Spe- 
cial Agents,  to  Roger  B.  Wood,  Assistant  United 
States  District  Attorney,  to  his  successor,  John  C. 
Knox,  (now  a  Federal  judge),  to  Raymond  B. 
Sarfaty,  Mr.  Wood's  assistant  who  developed  the 
Rintelen  case,  to  former  Police  Commissioner 
Arthur  Woods  of  New  York,  his  deputy,  Guy 
Scull,  his  police  captain,  Thomas  J.  Tunney,  and 


26     The  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

to  the  men  who  worked  obscurely  and  tirelessly 
with  them  to  avert  disasters  whose  fiendish  inten- 
tion shook  the  faith  if  not  the  courage  of  a  nation. 
Those  men  found  Germany  out  in  time. 

Germany  was  fluent  in  her  denials.  When  the 
President  in  his  message  to  Congress  in  Decem- 
ber, 1915,  bitterly  attacked  Germans  and  German- 
Americans  for  their  activities  in  America,  accus- 
ing the  latter  of  treason,  the  German  government 
authorized  a  statement  to  the  Berlin  correspond- 
ent of  the  New  York  Sun  on  December  19,  191 5, 
to  the  effect  that  it 

"naturally  has  never  knowingly  accepted  the  support  of 
any  person,  group  of  persons,  society  or  organization 
seeking  to  promote  the  cause  of  Germany  in  the  United 
States  by  illegal  acts,  by  counsels  of  violence,  by  contra- 
vention of  law,  or  by  any  means  whatever  that  could 
offend  the  American  people  in  the  pride  of  their  own 
authority.  If  it  should  be  alleged  that  improper  acts 
have  been  committed  by  representatives  of  the  German 
Government  they  could  be  easily  dealt  with.  To  any 
complaints  upon  proof  as  may  be  submitted  by  the  Amer- 
ican Government  suitable  response  will  be  duly  made. 
.  .  .  Apparently  the  enemies  of  Germany  have  succeeded 
in  creating  the  impression  that  the  German  Government 
is  in  some  way,  morally  or  otherwise,  responsible  for 
what  Mr.  Wilson  has  characterized  as  anti-American 
activities,  comprehending  attacks  upon  property  in  viola- 
tion of  the  rules  which  the  American  Government  has 
seen  fit  to  impose  upon  the  course  of  neutral  trade.     This 


Inspector  Thomas  J.  Tunney  of  the  New  York  PoHce  Depart- 
ment, head  of  the  "Bomb  Squad"  and  foremost  in 
apprehending  many  important  German  agents 


The  Conspii'ators'  Task  27 

the  German  Government  absolutely  denies.  It  cannot 
specifically  repudiate  acts  committed  by  individuals  over 
whom  it  has  no  control,  and  of  vv^hose  movements  it  is 
neither  officially  nor  unofficially  informed." 

To  this  statement  there  is  one  outstanding  an- 
swer. It  is  an  excerpt  from  the  German  book 
of  instructions  for  officers: 

"Bribery  of  the  enemy's  subjects  with  the  object  of 
obtaining  military  advantages,  acceptances  of  offers  of 
treachery,  reception  of  deserters,  utilization  of  the  dis- 
contented elements  in  the  population,  support  of  the  pre- 
tenders and  the  like  are  permissible ;  indeed  international 
law  is  in  no  way  opposed  to  the  exploitation  of  the  crimes 
of  third  parties  (assassination,  incendiarism,  robbery  and 
the  like)  to  the  prejudice  of  the  enemy.  Considerations 
of  chivalry,  generosity  and  honor  may  denounce  in  such 
cases  a  hasty  and  unsparing  exploitation  of  such  advan- 
tages as  indecent  and  dishonorable,  but  law,  which  is  less 
touchy,  allows  it.  The  ugly  and  inherently  immoral  as- 
pect of  such  methods  cannot  affect  the  recognition  of  their 
lawfulness.  The  necessary  aim  of  war  gives  the  bel- 
ligerent the  right  and  imposes  upon  him,  according  to 
circumstances,  the  duty  not  to  let  slip  the  important,  ii 
may  be  decisive,  advantages  to  be  gained  by  such  means." 

("The  War  Book  of  the  German  General  Staff,"  trans- 
lated by  J.  H.  Morgan,  M.A.,  pp.  113-114.) 


CHAPTER  III 

THE    RAIDERS    AT    SEA 

The  outbreak  of  war — Mobilization  of  reservists — The 
Hamburg-American  contract — The  Bcrzvind — The  Ma- 
rina Queaada — The  Sacramento — Naval  battles. 

A  fanatic  student  in  the  streets  of  Sarajevo, 
Bosnia,  threw  a  bomb  at  a  visiting  dignitary,  and 
the  world  went  to  war.  That  occtirred  on  the 
sunny  forenoon  of  June  28,  1914.  The  assassin 
was  chased  by  the  poHce,  the  newspaper  men,  and 
the  photographers,  who  reached  him  almost  simul- 
taneously, and  presently  the  world  knew  that  the 
Archduke  Francis  Ferdinand,  of  Austria,  was  the 
victim,  and  that  a  plain  frightened  fellow,  strug- 
gling in  the  shadow  of  a  doorway,  was  his  assail- 
ant. 

Austria's  resentment  of  the  crime  mounted 
during  July  and  boiled  over  in  the  ultimatum  of 
July  23.  Five  days  later,  with  Germany's  per- 
mission, Austria  declared  war  on  Servia.  By 
this  time  continental  tempers  had  been  aroused, 
and  the  Central  Empires  knew  that  "Der  Tag" 

28 


The  Raiders  at  Sea  29 

had  come.  Austria,  Russia,  Germany,  England, 
France  and  Belgium  entered  the  lists  within  a 
fortnight. 

By  mid- July  Germany  had  warned  her  agents 
in  other  lands  of  the  imminence  of  war  and  a 
quiet  mobilization  had  begun  of  the  more  impor- 
tant reservists  in  America.  Captain  von  Papen, 
after  dispatching  his  telegram  from  Mexico  via 
El  Paso  to  Captain  Boy-Ed,  hurried  to  Washing- 
ton, arriving  there  on  August  3.  He  began  to 
weld  together  into  a  vast  band  the  scientists,  ex- 
'perts,  secret  agents  and  German  army-reservists, 
who  were  under  German  military  oaths,  and  were 
prepared  to  gather  information  or  to  execute  a 
military  enterprise  ''zu  Befehl!"  How  rapidly 
he  assembled  his  staff  is  shown  in  testimony  given 
on  the  witness  stand  by  "Horst  von  der  Goltz," 
alias  Bridgeman  Taylor,  alias  Major  Wachen- 
dorf ,  a  German  spy  who  had  been  a  major  in  a 
Mexican  army  imtil  July. 

A  German  consul  in  El  Paso  had  sounded  out 
Goltz's  willingness  to  return  to  German  service. 
"A  few  days  later,  the  3rd  of  August,  1914, 
license  was  given  by  my  commanding  officer  to 
separate  myself  from  the  service  of  my  brigade 
for  the  term  of  six  months.  I  left  directly  for 
El  Paso,  Texas,  where  I  was  told  by  Mr.  Kueck, 
German    Consul    at    Chihuahua,    Mexico,    who 


30     The  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

stayed  there,  to  put  m3^sel£  at  the  disposition  of 
Captain  von  Papen."  This  was  two  days  before 
the  final  declaration  of  war. 

All  German  and  Austro-Hungarian  consulates 
received  orders  to  coordinate  their  own  staffs  for 
war  service.  Germany  herself  supplied  the 
American  front  with  men  by  wireless  commands 
to  all  parts  of  the  world.  Captain  Hans 
Tauscher,  who  enjoyed  the  double  distinction  of 
being  agent  in  America  for  the  Krupps  and  hus- 
band of  a  noted  operatic  singer,  Mme.  Johanna 
Gadski,  chanced  to  be  in  Berlin  when  war  broke 
out,  reported  for  duty  and  was  at  once  detailed  to 
return  to  the  United  States  and  report  to  von 
Papen,  as  Wilhelmstrasse  saw  the  usefulness  of 
an  ordnance  expert  in  intimate  touch  with  our 
Ordnance  Department  and  our  explosives  plants. 
Two  German  officers  detailed  to  topographical 
duty,  who  had  spent  years  mapping  Japan,  and 
were  engaged  in  the  same  work  in  British  Colum- 
bia, jumped  the  border  to  the  United  States, 
taking  with  them  their  families,  their  informa- 
tion and  their  fine  surveying  and  photographic  in- 
struments, and  in  the  blocking  out  of  the  country 
which  the  wise  men  in  the  East  were  performing, 
were  assigned  to  the  White  Mountains.  Rail- 
roads and  ships  to  the  Atlantic  seaboard  bore 
every  day  new  groups  of  reserve  officers  from  the 


TJie  Raiders  at  Sea  31 

Orient  and  South  America  to  New  York  for  sail- 
ing orders. 

They  found  von  Papen  already  there.  He 
established  a  consultation  headquarters  at  once 
with  Boy-Ed  in  a  room  which  they  rented  in  the 
offices  of  G.  Amsinck  &  Co.,  at  6  Hanover  Street. 
From  that  time  forward,  New  York  was  to  be  his 
base  of  operations,  and  it  was  at  that  moment 
especially  convenient  to  von  Bernstorff's  summer 
establishment  at  Newport. 

The  naval  situation  at  once  became  active.  In 
the  western  and  southern  Atlantic  a  scattered 
fleet  of  German  cruisers  was  still  at  large.  The 
British  set  out  eagerly  to  the  chase.  Security  lay 
in  southern  waters,  and  the  German  craft  dodged 
back  and  forth  through  the  Straits  of  Magellan. 
From  time  to  time  the  quarry  was  forced  by  the 
remoteness  of  supply  to  show  himself,  and  a  battle 
followed ;  in  the  intervals,  the  Germans  lay  perdu, 
dashing  into  port  for  supplies  and  out  again  to 
concealment,  or  wandering  over  seldom  traveled 
ocean  tracks  to  meet  coal  and  provision  ships  sent 
out  from  America. 

Captain  Boy-Ed  received  from  Berlin  constant 
advices  of  the  movements  of  his  vessels.  On 
July  31,  Dr.  Karl  Buenz,  the  American  head  of 
the  Hamburg-American  Line,  had  a  cable  from 
Berlin  which  he  read  and  then  forwarded  to  the 


32     The  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

Embassy  in  Washington  for  safekeeping.  Until 
191 2  Buenz  had  had  no  steamship  experience, 
having  been  successively  a  judge  in  Germany,  a 
consul  in  Chicago  and  New  York,  and  minister  to 
Mexico.  When  at  the  age  of  70  he  was  appointed 
Hamburg-American  agent,  one  of  the  first  mat- 
ters which  came  to  his  attention  was  the  consum- 
mation of  a  contract  between  the  Admiralty  Divi- 
sion of  the  German  government  and  the  steam- 
ship line,  which  provided  for  the  provisioning, 
during  war,  of  German  ships  at  sea,  using  Amer- 
ica as  a  base.  This  contract  was  jealously 
guarded  by  the  Embassy. 

The  cablegram  of  July  31  called  on  Dr.  Buenz 
to  carry  out  this  contract.  There  was  consulta- 
tion at  once  with  Boy-Ed  for  the  location  of  the 
vessels  to  be  supplied,  merchant  ships  were  char- 
tered or  purchased,  then  loaded,  and  despatched. 
The  first  to  leave  New  York  harbor  was  the  Ber- 
wind.  There  was  hesitancy  among  the  conspira- 
tors as  to  who  should  apply  for  her  clearance 
papers — documents  of  which  Dr.  Buenz  pro- 
tested he  knew  nothing.  They  finally  told  G.  B. 
Kulenkampff,  a  banker  and  exporter,  that  the 
Bcrzvind  was  loaded  with  coal,  and  directed  him 
to  get  the  clearance  papers.  He  swore  to  a  false 
manifest  of  her  cargo  and  got  them.  The  Ber- 
wind  carried  coal  to  be  sure — but  she  also  carried 


Ctfyriiht.    Intemationul   Film    S>; 


Dr.  Karl  Buenz,  managing  director  of  the 
Hamburg-American  Line 


The  B aiders  at  Sea  33 

food  for  German  warships,  and  she  was  not 
bound  for  Buenos  Aires,  as  her  clearance  papers 
stated.  Thus  the  United  States,  by  innocently 
issuing  false  papers,  made  herself,  on  the  third 
day  of  the  war,  a  party  to  German  naval  opera- 
tions. 

The  steamship  Lorenzo  dropped  down  the  har- 
bor, ostensibly  for  Buenos  Aires,  on  the  follow- 
ing day,  August  6,  cleared  by  a  false  manifest, 
and  bearing  coal  and  food  for  German  sailors. 
On  these  ships,  and  on  the  Thor  (from  Newport 
News  for  Fray  Bentos,  Uruguay),  on  the  Heine 
(from  Philadelphia  on  August  6  for  La  Guayra), 
on  the  /.  S.  Mozvinckel  and  the  Nepos  (out  of 
Philadelphia  for  Monrovia)  and  others  Boy-Ed 
and  Buenz  had  placed  supercargoes  bearing  secret 
instructions.  These  men  had  authority  to  give 
navigating  orders  to  the  captains  once  they  were 
outside  the  three-mile  limit — orders  to  keep  a  ren- 
dezvous with  German  battleships  by  wireless 
somewhere  in  the  Atlantic  wastes. 

The  Berwind  approached  the  island  of  Trini- 
dad and  Herr  Poeppinghaus,  who  was  her  super- 
cargo, directed  the  captain  to  lie  to.  Five  Ger- 
man ships,  the  Kap  Trafalgar,  Pontus,  Elinor 
Woerman,  Santa  Lucia  and  Eher,  approached 
and  the  transfer  of  supplies  started.  It  was  in- 
terrupted by  the  British  converted  cruiser  Car- 


34     The  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

mania.  She  engaged  in  a  brisk  two-hour  duel 
with  the  Kap  Trafalgar  which  ended  only  when 
the  latter  sank  into  the  tropical  ocean.  The  Ber- 
wind  meanwhile  put  the  horizon  between  herself 
and  the  Carmania. 

Few  of  the  chartered  ships  carried  out  their 
intentions,  although  their  adventures  were  vari- 
ous. Hear  the  story  of  the  Unit  a:  Her  skipper 
was  Eno  Olsen,  a  Canadian  citizen  born  in  Nor- 
way. Urhitzler,  the  German  spy  placed  aboard, 
made  the  mistake  of  assuming  that  Olsen  was 
friendly  to  Germany.  He  gave  him  his  "orders," 
and  the  skipper  balked.  ''  'Nothing  doing,'  I 
told  the  supercargo,"  Captain  Olsen  testified  later, 
with  a  Norwegian  twist  to  his  pronunciation. 
"She's  booked  to  Cadiz,  and  to  Cadiz  she  goes! 
So  the  supercargo  offered  me  $500  to  change 
my  course.  'Nothing  doing — nothing  doing  for 
a  million  dollars,'  I  told  him.  The  third  day  out 
he  offered  me  $10,000.  Nothing  doing.  So," 
announced  Captain  Olsen  with  finality,  "I  sailed 
the  Unita  to  Cadiz  and  after  we  got  there  I  sold 
the  cargo  and  looked  up  the  British  consul." 

One  picturesque  incident  of  the  provisioning 
enterprise  was  the  piratical  cruise  of  the  good 
ship  Gladstone,  rechristened,  with  a  German  bene- 
diction, Marina  Quezada.  Under  the  name  of 
Gladstone,  the  ship  had  flown  the  Norwegian  flag 


The  Raiders  at  Sea  35 

on  a  route  between  Canada  and  Australia,  but 
shortly  after  the  outbreak  of  war  she  put  into 
Newport  News.  Simultaneously  a  sea  captain, 
Hans  Suhren,  a  sturdy  German  formerly  of  the 
Pacific  coast,  appeared  in  New  York,  called  upon 
Captain  Boy-Ed,  who  took  kindly  interest  in  him, 
and  then  departed  for  Newport  News.  Here  he 
assumed  charge  of  the  Marina  Quezada. 

**I  paid  $280,000  in  cash  for  her,"  he  told  First 
Officer  Bentzen.  After  hiring  a  crew,  he  hur- 
ried back  to  New  York,  where  he  received  mes- 
sages in  care  of  "Nordmann,  Room  801,  11 
Broadway,  N.  Y.  C." — Captain  Boy-Ed's  office. 
Captain  Boy-Ed  had  already  told  him  to  erect  a 
wireless  plant  on  his  ship — the  equipment  having 
been  shipped  to  the  Marina  Quesada — and  to  hire 
a  wireless  operator.  He  then  handed  Suhren  a 
German  naval  code  book,  a  chart  with  routes 
drawn,  and  sailing  instructions  for  the  South 
Seas,  there  to  await  German  cruisers.  Food  sup- 
plies, ordered  for  the  steamer  Unit  a  (which  at 
that  time  had  been  unable  to  sail)  were  wasting 
on  the  piers  at  Newport  News  and  Captain  Boy- 
Ed  ordered  them  put  in  the  Marina  Quezada. 
Two  cases  of  revolvers  also  were  sent  to  the 
boat. 

Again  Suhren  went  back  to  the  ship  and  kept 
his  wireless  operators  busy  and  speeded  up  the 


36     The  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

loading  of  the  cargo,  which  was  under  the  super- 
vision of  an  employee  of  the  North  German  Lloyd. 
Needing  more  money  before  sailing  in  December, 
1914,  he  drew  a  draft  for  $1,000  on  the  Hamburg- 
American  Line,  wiring  Adolf  Hachmeister,  the 
purchasing  agent,  to  communicate  with  ''Room 
801,  II  Broadway." 

Then  trouble  arose  over  the  ship's  registry. 
Though  Suhren  insisted  that  he  owned  her,  a 
corporation  in  New  York  whose  stockholders 
were  Costa  Ricans  were  laying  claim  to  owner- 
ship, for  they  had  christened  her  and  had  se- 
cured provisional  registration  from  the  Costa  Ri- 
can  minister  in  Washington.  Permanent  regis- 
try, however,  required  application  at  Port  Limon, 
Costa  Rica.  So  hauling  down  the  Norwegian 
ensign  that  had  fluttered  over  the  ship  as  the 
Gladstone,  Captain  Suhren  ran  up  the  Costa 
Rican  emblem.  He  had  obtained  false  clearance 
papers  stating  his  destination  as  Valparaiso. 
They  were  based  upon  a  false  manifest,  and  he 
sailed  for  Port  Limon.  The  Costa  Rican  au- 
thorities declined  to  give  Suhren  permanent 
papers,  and  he  found  himself  master  of  a  ship 
without  a  flag,  and  in  such  status  not  permitted 
under  international  law  to  leave  port.  He  waited 
for  a  heavy  storm  and  darkness,  then  quietly 
slipping  his  anchor,  he  sped  out  into  the  high  seas. 


The  Haiders  at  Sea  37 

a  pirate.  Off  Pernambuco  he  ran  up  the  Nor- 
wegian flag,  put  into  port  and  got  into  such  diffi- 
culties with  the  authorities  that  his  ship  and  he 
were  interned.  His  supphes  never  reached  the 
raiders  and  Boy-Ed  learned  of  another  fiasco. 

The  Lorenzo,  Thor  and  Heine  were  seized  at 
sea.  The  Bangor  was  captured  in  the  Straits  of 
Magellan.  Out  of  twelve  shiploads  of  supplies, 
only  some  $20,000  worth  were  ever  transshipped 
to  German  war  vessels.  This  involved  a  consid- 
erable loss,  as  the  following  statement  of  expendi- 
tures for  those  vessels  made  by  the  Hamburg- 
American  Line  will  show : 

Steamer  Total  payment 

Thor    $1 13,879.72 

Berwind    73,221.85 

Lorenzo 430,182.59 

Heine 288,142.06 

Nepos    1 19,037.60 

Mowinckel    113,367.18 

Unita 67,766.44 

Somerstad    45,826.75 

^^c^m  55,053-23 

Craecia    29,143.59 

Macedonia    39,139-98 

Navarra    44,133.50 

Total   $1,419,394.49 

Where  did  the  money  come  from  ?     The  Ham- 


38     The  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

burg-American  Line,  under  the  ante-bellum  con- 
tract, placed  at  Captain  Boy-Ed's  disposal  three 
payments  of  $500,000  each  from  the  Deutsches 
Bank,  Berlin;  the  Deutsches  Bank  forwarded 
through  Wessells,  Kulenkampff  &  Co.,  credit  for 
$750,000  more.  ''I  followed  the  instructions  of 
Captain  Boy-Ed,"  Kulenkampff  testified.  "He 
instructed  me  at  different  times  to  pay  over  cer- 
tain amounts  either  to  banks  or  firms.  I  trans- 
ferred $350,000  to  the  Wells-Fargo  Nevada  Na- 
tional Bank  in  San  Francisco,  $150,000  to  the 
North  German  Lloyd,  then  $63,000  to  the  North 
German  Lloyd.  The  balance  of  $160,000  I 
placed  to  the  credit  of  the  Deutsches  Bank  with 
Gontard  &  Co.,  successors  to  my  former  firm. 
That  was  reduced  to  about  $57,000  by  payments 
drawn  at  Captain  Boy-Ed's  request  to  the  order 
of  the  Hamburg-American  Line." 

The  North  German  Lloyd  was  serving  as  the 
Captain's  Pacific  operative,  which*  accounts  for 
the  transfer  of  the  funds  to  the  West.  (The  same 
line,  through  its  Baltimore  agent,  Paul  Hilken, 
was  also  cooperating  at  this  time,  but  not  to  an 
extent  which  brought  the  busy  Hilken  into  promi- 
nence as  did  his  later  connection  with  the  mer- 
chant submarine,  Dcutschland.)  Following  the 
course  of  the  funds,  federal  agents  eventually 
uncovered  the  operations  of  Germans  on  the  Pa- 


The  Raiders  at  Sea  39 

cific  coast,  and  secured  the  arrest  and  convictions 
of  no  less  personages  than  the  consular  staff  in 
San  Francisco. 

The  steamship  Sacramento  left  San  Francisco 
with  a  water-line  cargo  of  supplies.  A  firm  of 
customs  brokers  in  San  Francisco  was  given  a 
fund  of  $46,000  by  the  German  consulate  to  pur- 
chase supplies  for  her ;  a  fictitious  steamship  com- 
pany was  organized  to  satisfy  the  customs  offi- 
cials; on  September  23  an  additional  $100,000 
was  paid  by  the  Germans  for  her  cargo ;  a  false 
valuation  was  placed  on  her  cargo,  and  she  was 
cleared  on  October  3.  Two  days  later  Benno 
Klocke  and  Gustav  Traub,  members  of  the  crew, 
broke  the  wireless  seals  and  got  into  communica- 
tion with  the  Dresden.  Klocke  usurped  the  posi- 
tion of  master  of  the  vessel,  and  steered  her  to  a 
rendezvous  on  November  8  with  the  Scharnhorst, 
off  Masafueros  Island,  in  the  South  Pacific;  six 
days  later  she  provisioned  and  coaled  the  German 
steamship  Baden.  She  reached  Valparaiso 
empty.  Captain  Anderson  said  he  could  not  help 
the  fact  that  her  supplies  were  swung  outboard 
and  into  the  Scharnhorst  and  Dresden. 

Captain  Fred  Jebsen,  who  was  a  lieutenant  in 
the  German  Naval  Reserve,  took  out  a  cargo  of 
coal,  properly  bonded  in  his  ship,  the  Mazatlan, 
for  Guaymas,  Sonora,  Mexico.     Off  the  mouth 


40     The  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

of  Magdalena  Bay  the  Ma:;aflan  met  the  Leipzig, 
a  German  cruiser,  and  the  cargo  of  coal  was 
transferred  to  the  battleship.  One  of  Jebsen's 
men,  who  had  signed  on  as  a  cook,  was  an  expert 
wireless  operator,  and  he  went  to  the  Leipzig  with 
three  cases  of  "preserved  fruits" — wireless  ap- 
paratus forwarded  by  German  agents  in  Cali- 
fornia. Jebsen,  after  an  attempt  to  smuggle 
arms  into  India,  which  will  be  discussed  later, 
made  his  way  to  Germany  in  disguise,  and  was 
reported  to  have  been  drowned  in  a  submarine. 
The  Nurnberg  and  Leipzig  lay  off  San  Francisco 
for  days  in  August,  the  former  finally  entering 
the  Golden  Gate  for  the  amount  of  coal  allowed 
her  under  international  law.  The  Olson  and 
Mahoney,  a  steam  schooner,  was  laden  with  sup- 
plies for  the  German  vessels  and  prepared  to  sail, 
but  after  a  considerable  controversy  with  the  cus- 
toms officials,  was  unloaded. 

Perhaps  the  most  bizarre  attempt  to  spirit  sup- 
plies to  the  Imperial  navy  was  that  in  which  the 
little  barkentine  Retriever  figured  as  heroine. 
Wide  publicity  was  given  the  announcement  that 
she  was  to  be  sailed  out  to  sea  and  used  as  the 
locale  of  a  motion  picture  drama.  The  Govern- 
ment found  out,  hov/ever,  that  her  hull  was  well 
down  with  coal,  which  did  not  seem  vital  to  the 
scenario,  and  she  was  not  permitted  to  leave  port. 


The  Raiders  at  Sea  41 

The  major  portion  of  Germany's  naval  strength 
lay  corked  in  the  Kiel  Canal,  where,  except  for  a 
few  indecisive  sorties,  Germany's  visible  fleet  was 
destined  to  remain  for  more  than  three  years. 
At  the  outbreak  of  war,  the  Emden,  Dresden, 
Scharnhorst,  Gneisenau  and  Nurnberg  were  at 
large  in  the  southern  oceans.  On  November  i 
the  German  cruisers  met  the  British  Monmouth, 
Good  Hope,  Glasgow  and  Otranto  off  Coronel, 
the  Chilean  coast.  The  Monmouth  and  Good 
Hope  were  struck  a  mortal  blow  and  sunk.  The 
Glasgow  and  Otranto  barely  escaped.  In  a  battle 
off  the  Falkland  Islands  on  December  7,  as  the 
German  army  was  being  thrown  back  from  Ypres, 
the  Scharnhorst,  Leip::ig,  Gneisenau  and  Nurn- 
berg were  sunk  by  a  reinforced  British  fleet. 
(Walter  Peters,  one  of  the  crew  of  the  Leipzig, 
floated  about  for  six  hours  after  the  engagement, 
was  picked  up,  made  his  way  to  Mexico,  and  for 
more  than  three  years  was  employed  by  a  German 
vice-consul  in  Mexico  in  espionage  in  the  United 
States.  Peters  was  arrested  as  a  dangerous  en- 
emy alien  in  Crockett,  California,  in  April,  1918.) 
The  Dresden  and  Karlsruhe  escaped,  and  the  for- 
mer hid  for  two  months  in  the  fjords  of  the  Straits 
of  Magellan.  On  February  26,  1915,  an  Ameri- 
can tourist  vessel,  the  Kroonland,  passed  east 
through  the  Straits  and  into  Punta  Arenas  har- 


42     The  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

bor,  while  out  of  the  harbor  sneaked  the  Httle 
Glasgow,  westward  bound.  The  Dresden,  after 
the  American  had  passed,  had  run  for  the  open 
Pacific;  the  Glasgow,  hot  on  her  trail,  engaged 
her  off  the  Chilean  coast  five  days  later  and  sank 
her,  leaving  only  the  Eniden  and  Karlsruhe  at 
large.     The  Karlsruhe  disappeared. 

The  last  lone  member  of  the  pack  was  hunted 
over  the  seas  for  months,  and  finally  was  beached, 
but  long  before  her  activities  became  public  the 
necessity  for  supplying  the  German  ships  expired, 
from  the  simple  elimination  of  German  ships  to 
supply.  Captain  Boy-Ed's  first  enterprise  had 
been  frustrated  by  the  British  navy  and  he  turned 
to  other  and  more  sinister  occupations.  Buenz, 
Koetter  and  Hachmeister  were  sentenced  to  eight- 
een months  in  Atlanta,  and  Poeppinghaus  to  a 
year  and  a  day — terms  which  they  did  not  begin 
to  serve  until  1918.^ 

1  Dr  Buenz'  case  is  an  enlightening  example  of  the  use  made 
by  German  agents  in  America  of  the  law's  delays.  He  was 
sentenced  in  December,  1915,  for  an  offence  committed  in  Sep- 
tember, 1914.  He  at  once  appealed  his  case  to  the  higher  courts, 
going  freely  about  meanwhile  on  bail  furnished  by  the  Ham- 
burg American  Line.  In  March,  1918,  the  Supreme  Court  of 
the  United  States,  to  which  his  case  had  finally  been  pressed, 
denied  his  appeal.  His  attorneys  at  once  placed  before  Presi- 
dent Wilson,  through  Attorney-General  Gregory,  a  request  for 
a  respite,  or  commutation  of  his  sentence,  which  the  Presi- 
dent, on  April  23,  1918,  denied.  Buenz  pleaded  the  frailty  of 
his  79  years — which  had  not  prevented  him  from  keeping  his 
social  engagements  while  his  appeal   was  pending. 


CHAPTER  IV 

THE   WIRELESS    SYSTEM 

The  German  Embassy  a  clearing  house — Sayville — 
Germany's  knowledge  of  U.  S.  wireless — Subsidized  elec- 
trical companies — Aid  to  the  raiders — The  Eniden — The 
Geier — Charles  E.  Apgar — The  German  code. 

The  coordination  of  a  nation's  fighting  forces 
depends  upon  that  nation's  system  of  communica- 
tion. In  no  previous  war  in  the  world's  history 
has  a  general  staff  known  more  of  the  enemy's 
plans.  We  look  back  almost  patronizingly  across 
a  century  to  the  semaphore  which  transmitted 
Napoleon's  orders  from  Paris  to  the  Rhine  in 
three  hours;  we  can  scarcely  realize  that  if  the 
report  of  a  scout  had  ever  got  through  to  Gen- 
eral Hooker,  warning  him  that  a  suspicious 
wagon  train  had  been  actually  sighted  a  few  miles 
away,  Stonewall  Jackson's  flanking  march  at 
Chancellorsville  would  have  been  checked  in  its 
first  stages.  In  this  greatest  of  all  wars  a  Brit- 
ish battery  silences  a  German  gun  within  two 
minutes  after  the  allied  airman  has  ''spotted"  the 
Boche.     The  air  is  "Any  Man's  Land."     What 

43 


44     Tlie  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

lies  beyond  the  hill  is  no  longer  the  great  hazard, 
for  the  wireless  is  flashing. 

If  the  Allied  general  staffs  had  been  provided 
with  X-ray  field-glasses,  and  had  trained  those 
glasses  on  a  certain  brownstone  house  in  Massa- 
chusetts Avenue,  between  Fourteenth  and  Fif- 
teenth Streets,  in  Washington,  they  would  have 
been  interested  in  the  perfection  of  the  German 
system  of  communication.  They  would  have  ob- 
served the  secretarial  force  of  the  Imperial  Em- 
bassy opening  and  sorting  letters  from  confeder- 
ates throughout  the  country,  many  so  phrased  as 
to  be  quite  harmless,  others  apparently  meaning- 
less. The  Embassy  served  as  a  clearing-house 
for  all  German  and  Allied  air  messages. 

Long  before  the  war  broke  out  the  German 
government  had  seen  the  military  necessity  for  a 
complete  wireless  system.  Subsidies  were  se- 
cretly granted  to  the  largest  of  the  German  elec- 
trical manufacturers  to  establish  stations  all  over 
the  globe.  Companies  were  formed  in  America, 
ostensibly  financed  with  American  funds,  but  on 
plans  submitted  to  German  capitalists  and 
through  them  to  the  German  Foreign  Office  for 
approval.  Thus  was  the  Sayville  station  erected. 
As  early  as  1909  a  German  captain,  Otto  von 
Fossberg,  had  been  sent  to  America  to  select  a 
site  on  Long  Island  for  the  station.     "The  Ger- 


The  Wireless  System  45 

man  government  is  backing  the  scheme,"  he  told 
a  friend,  although  the  venture  was  publicly  sup- 
posed to  be  under  the  auspices  of  the  "Atlantic 
Communication  Company,"  in  which  certain 
prominent  German-Americans  held  stock  and  of- 
fice. In  191 1  an  expert,  Fritz  von  der  Woude, 
paid  Sayville  a  visit  long  enough  to  install  the 
apparatus;  he  came  under  strict  injunctions  not 
to  let  his  mission  become  generally  known. 

Boy-Ed  watched  the  progress  of  the  Sayville 
station  with  close  interest  and  considerable  au- 
thority, and  his  familiarity  with  wireless  threw 
him  into  frequent  and  cordial  relationship  with 
the  United  States  naval  wireless  men  and  the  De- 
partment of  Commerce.  On  one  occasion  the 
Department  requested  a  confidential  report  from 
a  radio  inspector  of  the  progress  made  by  foreign 
interests  in  wireless;  the  report  prepared  went 
to  Germany  before  it  came  to  the  hands  of  the 
United  States  government.  Again :  the  German 
government  was  informed  in  1 914  by  Boy-Ed  in 
Washington  that  the  United  States  intended  to 
erect  a  wireless  station  at  a  certain  point  in  the 
Philippines;  full  details,  as  the  Navy  Department 
had  developed  them,  were  forwarded,  and  the 
German  government  immediately  directed  a  large 
electrical  manufacturer  in  Berlin  to  bid  for  the 
work.     The  site  the  United  States  had  selected 


46     The  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

was  not  altogether  satisfactory  to  Germany,  for 
some  reason,  so  the  German  government  added 
this  deHcious  touch:  a  confidential  map  of  the 
Philippines  was  turned  over  to  the  electrical 
house,  with  orders  to  submit  a  plan  for  the  con- 
struction of  the  American  station  on  a  site  which 
had  been  chosen  by  the  German  General  War 
Staff! 

The  Providence  Journal  claims  to  have  discov- 
ered an  interesting  German  document — probably 
genuine — which  reveals  the  scope  of  the  Teutonic 
wireless  project.  It  was  a  chart,  bearing  a  rect- 
angle labeled  in  German  with  the  title  of  the  Ger- 
man Foreign  Office.  From  this  "trunk"  radiated 
three  "branches,"  each  bearing  a  name,  and  each 
terminating  in  the  words  "Telefunken  Co."  The 
first  branch  was  labeled  "Gesellschaft  fiir  Draht- 
lose  Telegraphic,  Berlin";  the  second,  "Siemens 
&  Halske,  Siemens-Schuckert-Werke,  Berlin"; 
the  third,  "Allgemeine  Elektrizitats-Gesellschaft, 
Berlin." 

From  each  branch  grew  still  further  subdivi- 
sions, labeled  with  the  names  of  electrical  firms  or 
agents  all  over  the  world,  and  all  subject  to  the 
direction  of  the  German  government.  These 
names  follow: 

From  No.  i :  Atlantic  Communication  Co. 
(Sayville),   New  York;  Australasian  Wireless 


The  Wireless  Systeiri  47 

Co.,  Ltd.,  Sydney  (Australia) ;  Telefunken  East 
Asiatic  Wireless  Telegraph  Co.,  Ltd.,  Shanghai; 
Maintz  &  Co.  (of  Amsterdam,  Holland),  Batavia 
(Java) ;  Germann  &  Co.  (of  Hamburg),  Manila; 
B.  Grimm  &  Co.,  Bangkok;  Paetzold  &  Eppinger, 
Havana;  Spiegelthal,  La  Guayra;  Kruger  &  Co., 
Guayaquil;  Brahm  &  Co.,  Lima;  E.  Quicke,  Mon- 
tevideo; R.  Schulbach,  Thiemer  &  Co.  (of  Ham- 
burg), Central  America;  Sesto  Sesti,  Rome;  A. 
D.  Zacharion  &  Cie.,  Athens;  J.  K.  Dimitrijievic, 
Belgrade. 

From  No.  2:  Siemens  Bros.  &  Co.,  Ltd., 
London;  Siemens  &  Halske,  Vienna;  Siemens  & 
Halske,  Petrograd;  Siemens  &  Halske  (K.  G. 
Frank),  New  York;  Siemens-Schuckert-Werke, 
Sofia ;  Siemens-Schuckert-Werke,  Constantino- 
ple; Siemens-Schuckert-Werke  (Dansk  Aktsiel- 
skab),  Copenhagen;  Siemens-Schuckert-Werke 
(Denki  Kabushiki  Kaishe),  Tokio;  Siemens- 
Schuckert-Werke  (Companhia  Brazileira  de 
Electricidade),  Rio  de  Janeiro;  Siemens-Schuck- 
ert,  Ltd.,  Buenos  Ayres;  Siemens-Schuckert, 
Ltd.,  Valparaiso. 

From  No.  3:  A.  E.  G.  Union  Electrique, 
Brussels ;  Allgemeine  Elektrizitats-Gesellschaf t, 
Basel;  A.  E.  G.  Elecktriska  Aktiebolaget,  Stock- 
holm ;  A.  E.  G.  Electricitats  Aktieselskabet,  Chris- 
tiania;  A.  E.  G.  Thomson-Houston  Iberica,  Ma- 


48     The  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

drid;  A.  E.  G.  Compania  Mexicana,  Mexico;  A. 
E.  G.  Electrical  Company  of  South  Africa,  Jo- 
hannesburg. 

The  German  manufacturers  evinced  a  keen 
interest  in  the  project  of  a  wireless  plant  in  Nica- 
ragua, laying  special  stress  on  the  point  that  "per- 
manent stations  in  this  neighborhood"  would  be 
valuable  "if  the  Panama  Canal  is  fortified." 
From  Sayville  station  the  German  plan  projected 
powerful  wireless  plants  in  Mexico,  at  Para, 
Brazil;  at  Paramaribo,  Dutch  Guiana;  at  Carta- 
gena, Colombia,  and  at  Lima,  Peru.  A  point  in 
which  Captain  H.  Retzmann,  the  German  naval 
attache  in  191 1,  was  at  one  time  interested  was 
whether  signals  could  be  sent  to  the  German  fleet 
in  the  English  Channel  from  America  without 
England's  interference.  German  naval  wireless 
experts  supervised  the  construction,  and  although 
the  stations  were  nominally  civilian-manned,  and 
purely  commercial,  in  reality  the  operators  were 
often  men  of  unusual  scientific  intellect,  whose 
talents  were  sadly  underpaid  if  they  received  no 
more  than  operators'  salaries. 

Gradually  and  quietly,  Germany  year  by  year 
spread  her  system  of  wireless  communication 
over  Central  and  South  America,  preparing  her 
machinery  for  war.  Over  her  staff  of  operators 
and  mechanics  she  appointed  an  expert  in  the  full 


The  Wireless  System  49 

confidence  of  the  Embassy  at  Washington,  and  in 
close  contact  with  Captain  Boy-Ed.  To  the  sys- 
tem of  German-owned  commercial  plants  in  the 
United  States  he  added  amateur  stations  of  more 
or  less  restricted  radius,  as  auxiliary  apparatus. 

When  the  war  broke  out,  and  scores  of  German 
merchantmen  were  confined  to  American  ports 
by  the  omnipresence  of  the  British  fleet  at  sea,  the 
wireless  of  the  interned  ships  was  added  to  the 
system.  Thus  in  every  port  lay  a  source  of  infor- 
mation for  the  Embassy.  The  United  States 
presently  ordered  the  closing  of  all  private  wire- 
less stations,  and  those  amateurs  who  had  been 
listening  out  of  sheer  curiosity  to  the  air  con- 
versation cheerfully  took  down  their  antennae. 
Not  so,  however,  a  prominent  woman  in  whose 
residence  on  Fifth  Avenue  lay  concealed  a  pow- 
erful receiving  apparatus.  Nor  did  the  in- 
terned ships  obey  the  order :  apparatus  apparently 
removed  was  often  rigged  in  the  shelter  of  a  fun- 
nel, and  operated  by  current  supplied  from  an 
apparently  innocent  source.  And  the  secret 
service  discovered  stations  also  in  the  residences 
of  wealthy  Hoboken  Germans,  and  in  a  German- 
American  "mansion"  in  Hartford,  Connecticut. 

The  operators  of  these  stations  made  their  re- 
ports regularly  through  various  channels  to  the 


50     The  Germa7i  Secret  Service  in  America 

Embassy.  There  the  messages  were  sorted,  and 
it  is  safe  to  say  that  Count  von  Bernstorff  was 
cognizant  of  the  position  of  every  ship  on  the 
oceans.  He  was  in  possession  of  both  the  French 
and  British  secret  admiralty  codes.  In  the  Hght 
of  that  fact,  the  manoeuvres  of  the  British  and 
German  fleets  in  the  South  Atlantic  and  Pacific 
became  simply  a  game  of  chess,  Germany  follow- 
ing every  move  of  the  British  fleet  under  Admiral 
Cradock,  knowing  the  identity  of  his  ships,  their 
gun-power,  and  their  speed.  When  she  located 
the  Good  Hope,  Monmouth,  Glasgozv  and  Otranto 
off  Coronel,  Berlin,  through  von  Bernstorff,  gave 
Admiral  von  Spec  the  word  to  strike,  with  the 
results  which  we  have  observed:  the  sinking  of 
the  Monmouth  and  Good  Hope,  and  the  crippling 
of  the  Glasgozv  and  Otranto. 

Throughout  August,  September  and  October, 
1 9 14,  the  system  operated  perfectly.  Bernstorff 
and  Boy-Ed  were  confronted  with  the  problem  of 
keeping  the  German  fleet  alive  as  long  as  possible, 
and  inflicting  as  much  damage  as  possible  on  en- 
emy shipping.  Allied  merchantmen  left  port  al- 
most with  impunity,  and  were  gathered  in  by  Ger- 
man raiders  who  had  been  informed  from  Wash- 
ington of  the  location  of  their  prey.  But  the 
defeat  off  Chile  apparently  was  conclusive  proof 
to  England  that  Germany  knew  her  naval  code, 


The  Wireless  System  51 

and  the  events  of  November  and  December  indi- 
cate that  England  changed  her  code. 

It  was  while  engaged  in  escort  duty  to  the  first 
transport  fleet  of  the  Australian  Expeditionary 
Force  that  the  Australian  crusier  Sydney  re- 
ceived wireless  signals  from  Cocos  Island  shriek- 
ing that  the  Emden  was  near  by.  The  Emden, 
having  been  deprived  for  some  time  of  news  of 
enemy  ships,  had  gone  there  to  destroy  the  wire- 
less station,  having  in  the  past  three  months  sunk 
some  $12,500,000  of  British  shipping.  Even 
while  the  island's  distress  signals  were  crashing 
out,  the  Emden  had  her  own  wireless  busy  in  an 
effort  to  drown  the  call  for  help,  or  "jam"  the  air. 
On  the  following  morning,  November  9,  the  Syd- 
ney came  up  with  the  enemy.  A  sharp  action 
followed.  The  Sydney's  gunfire  was  accurate 
enough  to  cause  the  death  of  7  officers  and  108 
men;  her  own  losses  were  4  killed  and  12 
wounded ;  the  Emden  fled,  ran  aground  on  North 
Keeling  Island,  one  of  the  Cocos  group,  and  ulti- 
mately became  a  total  wreck. 

In  the  same  month  the  cruiser  Geier  fled  the 
approach  of  the  British  and  found  refuge  in 
Honolulu  harbor.  Her  commander.  Captain 
Karl  Grasshof,  made  the  mistake  of  keeping  a 
diary.  That  document,  which  later  fell  into  the 
hands  of  the  Navy  Intelligence  Service,  revealed 


52     The  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

a  complete  disrespect  for  the  hospitality  which  the 
American  government  afforded  the  refugees. 
The  Geicr's  band  used  to  strike  up  for  an  after- 
noon concert,  and  under  cover  of  the  music,  the 
wireless  apparatus  sent  out  messages  to  raiders 
at  sea  or  messages  in  English  so  phrased  as  to 
start  rumors  of  trouble  between  Japan  and  the 
United  States.  The  Geier  was  the  source  of  a 
rumor  to  the  effect  that  Japanese  troops  had 
landed  in  Mexico;  the  Gcier  gave  what  circula- 
tion she  could  to  a  report  that  Germans  in  the 
United  States  were  planning  an  invasion  of  Can- 
ada and  was  ably  assisted  in  this  effort  by  George 
Rodiek,  German  consul  at  Honolulu;  the  Geier 
caught  all  trans-Pacific  wireless  messages,  and  in- 
tercepted numerous  United  States  government 
despatches.  Captain  Grasshof  also  spread  a  re- 
port quoting  an  American  submarine  commander 
as  saying  he  would  "like  to  do  something  to  those 
Japs  outside"  (referring  to  the  Japanese  Pacific 
patrol)  provided  he  (the  American  commander) 
and  the  German  could  reach  an  agreement.  This 
report  Grasshof  attributed  to  von  Papen,  and 
later  retracted,  admitting  that  it  was  a  lie. 
Grasshof's  courier  to  the  consulate  in  San  Fran- 
cisco was  A.  V.  Kircheisen,  a  quartermaster  on 
the  liner  China,  a  German  secret  service  agent 
bearing  the  number  K-17.     Kircheisen  frequently 


The  Wireless  System  53 

used  the  China's  wireless  to  send  German  mes- 
sages. 

On  December  8  occurred  the  engagement  off 
the  Falklands,  which  resulted  in  the  defeat  of  the 
German  fleet.  The  Karlsruhe  within  a  short 
time  gave  up  her  aimless  wanderings  and  disap- 
peared. In  February  the  Glasgow  avenged  her- 
self on  the  Dresden,  and  the  Prins  Eitel  Fried- 
rich  and  the  Kronprins  Wilhelm  fled  into  the  se- 
curity of  Hampton  Roads  for  the  duration  of 
war. 

The  United  States'  suspicions  had  been  aroused 
by  the  activity  of  the  German  wireless  plants,  but 
the  arm  of  the  law  did  not  remove  at  once  the 
German  operators  at  certain  commercial  stations. 
They  were  the  men  who  despatched  communica- 
tions to  Berlin  and  to  the  raiders.  Interspersed 
in  commercial  messages  they  sprinkled  code 
phrases,  words,  numbers,  a  meaningless  and  inno- 
cent jargon.  The  daily  press  bulletin  issued  to 
all  ships  at  sea  was  an  especially  adaptable  vehi- 
cle for  this  practice,  as  any  traveler  who  has  been 
forced  to  glean  his  news  from  one  of  these  bulle- 
tins will  readily  appreciate.  There  were  Ameri- 
cans shrewd  enough,  however,  to  become  exceed- 
ingly suspicious  of  this  superficially  careless  send- 
ing, and  their  suspicions  were  confirmed  through 
the    invention    of    another    shrewd    American, 


54     The  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

Charles  E.  Apgar.  He  combined  the  principles 
of  the  phonograph  and  the  wireless  in  such  a  way 
as  to  record  on  a  wax  disc  the  dots  and  dashes 
of  the  message,  precisely  as  it  came  through  the 
receiver.  The  records  could  be  studied  and  ana- 
lyzed at  leisure.  And  the  United  States  govern- 
ment has  studied  them. 

At  three  o'clock  every  morning,  the  great  wire- 
less station  at  Nauen,  near  Berlin,  uttered  a  hash 
of  language  into  the  ether.  It  was  apparently 
not  directed  to  any  one  in  particular,  nor  did  it 
contain  any  known  coherence.  Unless  the  oper- 
ator in  America  wore  a  DeForest  audian  detector, 
which  picks  up  waves  from  a  great  distance,  he 
could  not  have  heard  it,  and  certainly  during  the 
early  part  of  the  war  he  paid  no  attention  to  it. 
The  United  States  decided,  however,  that  it 
might  be  well  to  eavesdrop,  and  so  for  over  two 
years  every  utterance  from  Nauen  was  tran- 
scribed and  filed  away,  or  run  off  on  the  phono- 
graph, in  the  hope  that  repetition  might  reveal 
the  code.  Until  the  code  was  discovered  else- 
where, the  phonographic  records  told  no  tales, 
but  then  the  State  Department  found  that  it  had 
a  priceless  library  of  Prussian  impudence. 

The  diplomatic  code  was  a  dictionary,  its  pages 
designated  by  serial  letters,  its  words  by  serial 
numbers.     Thus  the  message 


The  Wireless  System  55 

"12-B-15-C-7" 

signified  the  twelfth  and  fifteenth  words  on  the 
second  page,  and  the  seventh  word  on  the  third 
page.  This  particular  dictionary  was  one  of  a 
rare  edition. 

To  complement  the  diplomatic  code  the 
Deutches  Bank,  the  German  Foreign  Office,  and 
their  commercial  representatives,  Hugo  Schmidt 
and  Dr.  Albert,  had  agreed  upon  an  arbitrary 
code  which  proved  one  of  the  most  difficult  which 
the  American  authorities  have  ever  had  to  deci- 
pher. Solution  would  have  been  impossible  with- 
out some  of  the  straight  English  or  German  con- 
firmations which  followed  by  mail,  but  as  most 
of  these  documents  were  lost  or  destroyed,  the 
deciphering  had  to  be  done  by  astute  construction 
of  testimony  taken  from  Schmidt  as  late  as  the 
fall  of  191 7.  He  had  made  the  work  doubly  dif- 
ficult by  burning  the  cipher  key  and  most  of  his 
important  papers  in  the  furnace  of  the  German 
Club. 

Simple  phrases,  such  as  might  readily  pass  any 
censor  without  arousing  suspicion,  passed  fre- 
quently through  Sayville  station.  The  message 
"Expect  father  to-morrow"  meant  *'The  political 
situation  between  America  and  Germany  grows 
worse.     It  is  imperative  that  you  take  care  of 


56     The  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

your  New  York  affairs."  "Depot"  meant  "Se- 
curities"; "Depot  Pritchard"  meant  "Securities 
to  be  held  in  Germany";  "Depot  Cooper"  meant 
"Securities  to  be  forwarded  to  some  neutral  coun- 
try in  Europe."  Schmidt  himself  had  the  follow- 
ing aliases:  "John  Maley,"  "Roy  Woolen," 
"Sidney  Pickford,"  "George  Brewster,"  "175 
Congress  Street,  Brooklyn,"  "James  Frasier,"  or 
"Andrew  Brodie."  Dr.  Albert  was  mentioned 
as  "John  Herbinsen,"  "Howard  Ackley,"  "Leon- 
ard Hadden,"  or  "Donald  Yerkes."  James  W. 
Gerard,  the  American  ambassador  at  Berlin,  was 
"Wilbur  McDonald";  America  was  "Fremessi" 
or  "Alfred  Lipton."  To  throw  any  suspicion  off 
the  scent,  the  phrase  "Hughes  recovered"  was 
translatable  simply  as  "agreed,"  whereas  "Percy 
died"  meant  "disagreed."  Amounts  of  money 
were  to  be  multiplied  by  one  thousand. 

This  cipher  code,  so  far  as  it  had  any  system 
at  all,  showed  a  skilful  choice  of  arbitrary  proper 
names,  than  which  there  is  nothing  less  sugges- 
tive or  significant  when  the  name  is  backed  up  by 
no  known  or  discoverable  personality.  These 
names  met  two  requirements:  they  carefully 
avoided  any  names  of  personages,  and  they 
sounded  English  or  American.  Following  is  a 
table  of  the  commoner  symbols  used: 


The  Wireless  System 


57 


Code 
Alcott 
Andeo 

John  Hazel :  Chapman ; 
Thos.  Hadley 
Pythagoras  Errflint 

Lawrence  McKay 

John  Hastings ;  Fred 
Holden;  Wm.  Lounsbury 
Flagside ;    Chas.    Hall 
Henry  Galloway 
Frenchlike ;   Blake 
Flammigere 
Percy  Bloomfield 
Gobber  Milbank  or 
John    Childs 
George  Mallery 

Charles  Thurston : 
Caffney    Richard 
Ernest   Whiskard 
Frederick   Chappell, 
Walter  Harris ;   Edmund 

Hutton 
Mills    Edgar 
Albert  Hardwood 
Herbert  Hastings, 
Langman   Howard, 
Luckett  Ernest 
Eversleigh 

Sidney  Farmer  and  others 
Francis  Hawkins 
Francis  Manuel; 
Edward  Gary 
Fleshquake 
Clarence  Hadden 
Floezanbel 
Floezuise 
Wm.   Gerome 
Fluitkoker 


Translation 
Hugo   Reisinger 
Payments    are 

G.  Amsinck  &  Co. 
Argentine  Finance 

Minister 
Austrian        Ambassador        at 

Washington. 


Bankers   Trust   Co. 

Belgium 

Berlin 

Bethlehem  Steel  Co. 

Reichsbank 

Capt.   Boy-Ed 

British  Ambassador  at  Wash- 
ington 

British  Government 
Central  Bank  of  Norway 
The     Submarine     Dcutschland 

Chase  National  Bank 
Dr.  Dernberg 
Empire  Trust  Co. 


Equitable  Trust  Co. 

New  York 

Speyer  &  Co. 

Farmers  Loan  &  Trust  Co. 

German  Government 
Kuhn,  Loeb  &  Co. 
First  National  Bank 
George  J.   Gould 
J.   P.   Morgan 
J.  P.  Morgan  &  Co. 
Wm.  Barclay  Parsons 


58     The  German  Secret  Service  in  America 


Code 

Translation 

Fleuxerimus 

High     Official     of     Bethlehem 

Steel  Co. 

Fogarizers 

Chas.  M.   Schwab 

John  Hayward 

Norwegian   Government 

Franklin  Giltrap 

Hamburg- American 

Line 

Theodore    Hooper 

Capt.  von  Papen 

15     Code     names     represented 

the 

Guaranty  Trust  Co. 

Paul    Overton;    Robt. 

Hopkins 

Hanover  Nat.  Bank 

George  Hedding 

Standard  Mercantile 

Agency 

Hugh    Sturges 

Paul      Hilken      (Deutschland) 

Clarence    Marsh 

Japanese   Ambassador   at 

Washington 

Howard  Howe 

Irving  Nat.  Bank 

Herbert    Miller 

President  of  U.  S. 

Andrew  Mills 

Secretary  of  Commerce  and 

Labor 

Theodore  Mitchell 

Secretary  of   Agriculture 

Robert  Moffatt 

Secretary  of  State 

Frank  Monroe 

Secretary  of  Treasury 

Walter  Montgomery 

Secretary  of  Navy 

Dolling 

London 

Robert  London 

North  German  Lloyd 

Steven  Morgan 

United  States  Congress 

Frank  Mountcastle 

The    name    of    the    Deutsches 

Bank  is  not  to  be  mentioned 

Steven  Lawson 

Royal  Bank  of  Canada 

Gafento 

Toluol   (High  explosive) 

The  chief  significance  of  the  discovery  of  the 
two  codes  is  their  conclusive  proof  that  while  von 
Bernstorff  was  protesting  to  the  American  gov- 
ernment that  he  could  not  get  messages  through 
to  Berlin,  nor  replies  from  the  foreign  office,  he 
was  actually  in  daily,  if  not  hourly,  communica- 


The  Wireless  System  59 

tion  with  his  superiors.  Messages  were  sent  out 
by  his  confidential  operators  under  the  very  eyes 
of  the  American  naval  censors.  After  the  break 
of  diplomatic  relations  with  Berlin,  in  February, 
19 1 7,  the  authorities  set  to  work  decoding  the 
messages,  and  the  State  Department  from  time  to 
time  issued  for  publication  certain  of  the  more 
brutal  proofs  of  Germany's  violation  of  Ameri- 
can neutrality.  The  ambassador  and  his  Wash- 
ington establishment  had  served  for  two  years 
and  a  half  as  the  "central  exchange"  of  German 
affairs  in  the  western  world.  After  his  depart- 
ure communication  from  German  spies  here  was 
handicapped  only  by  the  time  required  to  forward 
information  to  Mexico ;  from  that  point  to  Berlin 
air  conversation  continued  uninterrupted. 


CHAPTER  V 

MILITARY    VIOLENCE 

The  plan  to  raid  Canadian  ports — The  first  Welland 
Canal  plot — Von  Papen,  von  der  Goltz  and  Tauscher — 
The  project  abandoned — Goltz's  arrest — The  Tauscher 
trial — Hidden  arms — Louden's  plan  of  invasion. 

Underneath  the  even  surface  of  American  life 
seethed  a  German  volcano,  eating  at  the  upper 
crust,  occasionally  cracking  it,  and  not  infre- 
quently bursting  a  great  gap.  When  an  eruption 
occurred,  America  stopped  work  for  a  moment, 
stared  in  surprise,  sometimes  in  horror,  at  the 
external  phenomena,  discussed  them  for  a  few 
days,  then  hurried  back  to  work.  More  often 
than  not  it  saw  nothing  sinister  even  in  the  phe- 
nomena. 

Less  than  ten  hours  from  German  headquar- 
ters in  New  York  lay  Canada,  one  of  the  richest 
possessions  of  Germany's  bitter  enemy  England. 
Captain  von  Papen  had  not  only  full  details  of  all 
points  of  military  importance  in  the  United 
States,  but  had  made  practical  efforts  to  utilize 

60 


Military  Violence  61 

them.  He  knew  where  his  reservists  could  be 
found  in  America.  When  the  Government, 
shortly  after  the  outbreak  of  war,  forbade  the 
recruiting-  of  belligerents  within  its  boundaries, 
and  then  refused  to  issue  American  passports  for 
the  protection  of  soldiers  on  the  way  to  their  com- 
mands, Captain  von  Papen  planned  to  mobilize 
and  employ  a  German  army  on  American  soil  in 
no  less  pretentious  an  enterprise  than  a  military 
invasion  of  the  Dominion. 

The  first  plan  was  attributed  to  a  loyal  German 
named  Schumacher,  whose  ambiguous  address 
was  "Eden  Bower  Farm,  Oregon."  He  outlined 
in  detail  to  von  Papen  the  feasibility  of  obtaining 
a  number  of  powerful  motor-boats,  to  be  manned 
by  German-American  crews,  and  loaded  with 
German-American  rifles  and  machine  guns. 
From  the  ports  on  the  shores  of  the  Great  Lakes 
he  considered  it  practicable  to  journey  under 
cover  of  darkness  to  positions  which  would  com- 
mand the  waterfronts  of  Toronto,  Sarnia,  Wind- 
sor and  Kingston,  Ontario,  find  the  cities  defense- 
less, and  precipitate  upon  them  a  fair  storm  of 
bullets.  A  few  Canadian  lives  might  be  lost, 
which  did  not  matter ;  an  enormous  hue  and  cry 
would  be  raised  to  keep  the  Canadian  troops  at 
home  to  guard  the  back  door. 

Von  Papen  entertained  the  plan  seriously,  and 


62     The  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

submitted  it  to  Count  von  Bernstorff,  who  for 
obvious  diplomatic  reasons  did  not  care  to  sponsor 
open  violence  when  its  proponent's  references 
were  unreliable,  its  actual  reward  was  at  best 
doubtful,  and  when  subtle  violence  was  equally 
practicable.  Von  Papen  then  produced  an  alter- 
native project. 

Cutting  through  the  promontory  which  sepa- 
rates Lake  Erie  from  the  western  end  of  Lake 
Ontario  runs  the  Welland  Canal,  through  which 
all  shipping  must  pass  to  avoid  Niagara  Falls. 
This  waterway  is  one  of  Canada's  dearest  proper- 
ties, and  is  no  mean  artery  of  supply  from  the 
great  grain  country  of  the  Northwest. 

Its  economic  importance,  however,  was  second- 
ary in  the  German  mind  to  the  psychological  effect 
upon  Canada  which  a  dynamite  calamity  to  the 
Canal  would  certainly  cause.  The  first  expedi- 
tionary force  of  Canadian  troops  was  training 
frantically  at  Valcartier,  Quebec.  They  must  be 
kept  at  home.  Whether  or  not  the  idea  origin- 
ated with  Captain  von  Papen  is  of  little  conse- 
quence (it  may  be  safely  assumed  that  Berlin  had 
long  had  plans  for  such  an  enterprise)  ;  the  fact 
is  that  it  devolved  upon  him  as  military  com- 
mander to  crystallize  thought  in  action.  The 
plot  is  ascribed  to  ''two  Irishmen,  prominent 
members  of   Irish  associations,  who  had  both 


Military  Violence  63 

fought  during  the  Irish  rebelHon,"  and  was  to 
include  destruction  of  the  main  railway  junctions 
and  the  grain  elevators  in  the  vicinity  of  Toronto. 
The  picturesque  renegade  German  spy  com- 
monly known  as  Horst  von  der  Goltz  is  respon- 
sible for  the  generally  accepted  version  of  inci- 
dents which  followed  his  first  interview  with  von 
Papen  on  August  22  at  the  German  Consulate  in 
New  York.  He  was  sent  to  Baltimore  under  the 
assumed  name  of  Bridgeman  H.  Taylor,  with  a 
letter  to  the  German  Consul  there,  Karl  Lued- 
eritz,  calling  for  whatever  cooperation  Goltz 
might  need.  He  was  to  recruit  accomplices  from 
the  crew  of  a  German  ship  then  lying  at  the  North 
German  Lloyd  docks  in  the  Patapsco  River. 
With  a  man  whom  he  had  hired  in  New  York, 
Charles  Tucker,  alias  "Tuchhaendler,"  he  visited 
the  ship  and  selected  his  men.  He  then  returned 
to  New  York,  where  Papen  placed  three  more 
men  at  his  disposal,  one  of  them  being  A.  A. 
Fritzen,  of  Brooklyn,  a  discharged  purser  on  a 
Russian  liner;  another  Frederick  Busse,  an  "im- 
porter," with  offices  in  the  World  Building,  New 
York;  and  the  third  man  Constantine  Covani,  a 
private  detective,  of  New  York.  After  a  few 
days  the  sailors  from  Baltimore  reported  for 
duty,  but  were  sent  back,  as  Goltz  noticed  that  his 
movements  were  being  watched. 


64     The  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

Papen  sent  Goltz  to  Captain  Tauscher's  office 
at  320  Broadway  for  explosives.  On  September 
5,  Captain  Tauscher  ordered  300  pounds  of  60 
per  cent,  dynamite  to  be  delivered  by  the  E.  I. 
du  Pont  de  Nemours  Company  to  Mr.  Bridgeman 
Taylor.  In  a  motor-boat  Goltz  applied  at  a  du 
Pont  barge  near  Black  Tom  Island  and  the  Statue 
of  Liberty  and  took  away  his  three  hundred 
pounds  of  dynamite  in  suitcases.  The  little  craft 
made  its  way  up  the  river  to  146th  Street.  The 
conspirators  then  carried  their  burden  to  the  Ger- 
man Club  in  Central  Park  South  and  later  in  a 
taxicab  to  Goltz's  home,  where  it  was  stored  with 
a  supply  of  revolvers  and  electrical  apparatus  for 
exploding  the  charges. 

A  passport  for  facile  entrance  into  Canada  had 
been  applied  for  by  one  of  Luederitz's  henchmen 
in  Baltimore  in  the  name  of  "Bridgeman  Taylor," 
and  had  been  forwarded  in  care  of  Karl  \V.  Buck, 
who  lived  at  843  West  End  Avenue,  New  York. 
With  this  guerdon  of  American  protection  Goltz 
set  out  for  Buffalo  about  September  10 — the  last 
day  of  the  Battle  of  the  Marne — Busse  and  Frit- 
zen  carrying  the  dynamite  and  apparatus,  and 
Covani,  as  Goltz  naively  related,  ''attending  to 
me."  He  found  rooms  at  198  Delaware  Avenue, 
in  the  heart  of  Buffalo.  He  learned  of  the  ter- 
rain for  the  enterprise  from  a  German  of  myste- 


^//////r^/-  //fz/rj  /'/ -^  ////rr/r//. 
_  y //////■/////■///  r/-  ////A 


/n//>/Mi  ' y, /:■■/■■„:,/,/  //,!/, 

(J      / 

liESKHEN.   BBBLlKi  '^^■<^'^' '^^V 
ACSWlRTIOfis  AWT 

?y)!iESDEiTsrnr.M'f::a's 
i'Asr>-i:(:.;:'  .1' 


I,. 


\m^ 


Passport  given  to  Horst  von  der  Goltz  under  the 
alias  of  Bridgeman  H.  Taylor 


Military  Violence  65 

rious  occupation,  who  had  Hved  in  Bufifalo  for 
several  years.  Within  a  few  days  Gohz  and  his 
companions  moved  on  to  Niagara  Falls — a  move 
made  easier  by  an  exchange  of  telegraphic  com- 
munications between  Papen  and  himself.  It  is 
only  necessary  to  quote,  from  the  British  Secret 
Service  report  to  Parliament,  those  messages 
which  Goltz  received  from  the  attache,  or  "Stef- 
fens,"  as  Papen  chose  to  sign  himself: 

New  York,  N.  Y.  Sept.  15,  14 
Mr.  Taylor,  198  Delaware  Ave.  Buffalo 

Sent  money  today.  Consult  lawyer  John  Ryan  six 
hundred  thirteen  Mutual  Life  Building  Buffalo  not  later 
than  seventeenth. 

Steffens,  112  Central  Park  South 

12.45  P- 

New  York,  N.  Y.  Sept.  16-14 
Mr.  Taylor,  198  Delaware  Avenue,  Bflo. 
Ryan  got  money  and  instructions. 

Steffens, 
1. 14  p. 

Goltz  and  Covani  ''consulted"  Mr.  Ryan,  who 
had  received  $200  on  September  16  from  Papen 
through  Knauth,  Nachod  &  Kuhne. 

Then  Goltz  claimed  that  he  made  two  aeroplane 
flights  over  Niagara  Falls,  and  "reconnoitered 
the  ground."  Something  went  wrong,  for  after 
a  week  arrived  the  following  telegrams : 


66     The  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

New  York,  N.  Y.  Sept.  24-14. 
John  T.  Ryan,  613  Mutual  Life  Bldg.  Buffalo. 

Please  instruct  Taylor  cannot  do  anything  more  for 
him, 

Steffens. 
12:51  p. 

New  York,  N.  Y.  Sept.  26-14. 
Mr.  Taylor,  care  Western  Union,  Niagara  Falls,  N.  Y. 

Do  what  you  think  best.  Did  you  receive  dollars  two 
hundred 

Ryan 
945  A. 

These  messages  are  open  to  several  construc- 
tions. They  do  not  contradict  Goltz's  claim  that 
he  "learned  that  the  first  contingent  of  Canadian 
troops  had  left  the  camp."  They  could  indicate 
that  his  chief  was  not  fully  satisfied  with  his  tech- 
nique. Perhaps  the  most  intriguing  feature  of 
the  telegrams  is  their  presence  in  a  safe-deposit 
vault  in  Holland  when  Goltz  was  captured  months 
later.  It  may  be  assumed  that  if  (as  he  main- 
tained) he  was  being  watched  constantly  in  Buf- 
falo by  the  United  States  Secret  Service,  one  of 
the  first  things  he  would  have  done  is  to  destroy 
any  messages  received.  We  leave  the  reader  to 
decide — after  he  has  traced  Goltz's  history  a  step 
or  two  further. 

Whatever  the  occasion,  the  Welland  enterprise 


Military  Violence  67 

was  dismissed;  the  dynamite  was  left  with  an 
aviator  in  Niagara  Falls;  Fritzen  and  Busse  were 
discharged  from  service,  and  Covani  and  Goltz 
left  for  New  York.  In  a  letter  dated  December 
7,  from  Buffalo,  poor  Busse  wrote  to  Edmund 
Pavenstedt,  at  45  William  Street,  New  York, 
pleading  that  he  had  been  left  without  any  money 
in  Niagara  Falls;  that  he  had  written  to  von 
Papen  and  had  been  compelled  to  wait  two  weeks 
before  he  got  $20.  His  expenses  had  accumu- 
lated during  the  fortnight,  he  could  not  find  work, 
he  even  had  sold  his  overcoat,  and  he  begged 
Pavenstedt  to  send  him  money  to  come  back  to 
New  York.  ''My  friend  Fritzen,"  he  added, 
''was  sent  back  some  weeks  ago  by  a  gentleman 
in  the  German-American  Alliance.  ...  I  would 
appreciate  anything  you  can  do  for  me,  especially 
since  I  enlisted  in  such  a  task  .  .  .  Von  Papen 
signs  himself  Stevens." 

The  military  attache  was  frankly  disgusted  at 
the  failure  of  the  undertaking.  Goltz  claims  to 
have  explained  everything  satisfactorily,  and  to 
have  been  given  presently  a  new  commission — 
that  of  returning  to  Germany  for  further  instruc- 
tions from  Abteilung  III  of  the  General  Staff, 
the  intelligence  department  of  the  Empire. 

On  October  8  Goltz  sailed  for  Europe,  armed 
with  his  false  passport,  and  a  letter  of  introduc- 


68     The  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

tion  to  the  German  Consul-General  in  Genoa. 
He  reached  Berlin  safely,  received  his  orders, 
returned  to  England,  and  was  arrested  on  Novem- 
ber 13.  The  public  was  not  informed  of  his  ar- 
rest, yet  in  Busse's  letter  from  Buffalo  of  Decem- 
ber 7,  he  mentioned  Goltz's  capture  in  London. 
News  traveled  fast  in  German  channels. 

Examination  of  his  papers  resulted  in  a  pro- 
tracted imprisonment,  which  daily  grew  more 
painful,  and  finally  Goltz  agreed  to  turn  state's 
evidence  against  his  former  confreres.  It  was 
not  until  March  31,  19 16,  that  Captain  Tauscher 
was  interrupted  at  his  office  by  the  arrival  of 
agents  of  the  Department  of  Justice,  who  placed 
him  under  arrest.  He  was  held  in  $25,000  bail 
on  a  charge  of  having  furthered  a  plot  to  blow  up 
the  Welland  Canal. 

Meanwhile  Goltz's  confession  had  implicated 
him  in  something  more  than  a  casual  acquaint- 
ance with  the  plot;  stubs  in  the  check-book  of 
Captain  von  Papen  established  payment  made  by 
the  latter  to  Tauscher  of  $31.13,  which  happened 
to  be  the  exact  total  of  two  bills  from  the  du  Pont 
Company  to  Captain  Tauscher  for  dynamite  and 
hemp  fuses  delivered  on  September  5  and  13  to 
"Bridgeman  Taylor."  Prior  to  the  trial  in  June 
and  July,  191 6,  Tauscher  offered  to  plead  guilty 
for  a  promise  of  the  maximum  fine  without  im- 


Military  Violence  69 

prisonment,  but  his  offer  was  rejected  by  the 
United  States  attorneys.  A  letter  was  intro- 
duced as  testimony  to  his  good  character  from 
General  Crozier,  the  then  head  of  the  Ordnance 
Department  at  Washington.  Goltz  made  an  un- 
impressive witness,  and  Captain  Tauscher,  pro- 
testing his  innocence  as  a  mere  intermediary  in 
the  affair,  was  acquitted  of  the  charge. 

Of  the  smaller  fry  Fritzen  was  arrested  in  Los 
Angeles  in  March,  1917.  He  stated  then  to  of- 
ficers that  he  had  made  trips  to  Cuba  after  the 
outbreak  of  war  in  19 14,  had  traveled  over 
southern  United  States  in  two  attempts  to  reach 
Mexico  City,  and  had  finally  found  employment 
on  a  ranch.  He  was  sentenced  to  18  months  in 
prison.  Tucker  and  Busse  were  witnesses  at  the 
Tauscher  trial  and  were  treated  leniently.  Co- 
vani  turned  from  his  previous  occupation  as 
hunter  to  that  of  quarry,  and  was  not  appre- 
hended. 

Information  gathered  by  the  Federal  authori- 
ties and  produced  in  court  proved  that  Captain 
von  Papen  and  reservist  German  army  officers  in 
the  country  planned  a  second  mobilization  of  Ger- 
man reservists  to  attack  Canadian  points.  That 
the  project  was  seriously  considered  for  a  time  is 
evidenced  by  a  note  in  the  diary  found  on  the 
commander  of  the  Geier,  in  Honolulu,  in  which 


70     The  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

he  said  that  the  German  consul  in  Honokilu, 
George  Rodiek,  had  had  orders  from  the  San 
Francisco  consulate  to  circulate  a  report  to  that 
effect.  Hundreds  of  thousands  of  rifles  and  hun- 
dreds of  rounds  of  ammunition  that  were  to  be 
available  for  German  reservists  were  stored  in 
New  York,  Chicago  and  other  cities  on  the  bor- 
der. Many  a  German-American  brewery  con- 
cealed in  the  shadows  of  its  storehouses  crates  of 
arms  and  ammunition.  Tauscher  stored  in  200 
West  Houston  Street,  New  York,  on  June  21, 
1915,  2,000  45-calibre  Colt  revolvers,  10  Colt 
automatic  guns,  7,000  Springfield  rifles,  3,000,000 
revolver  cartridges  and  2,500,000  rifle  cartridges. 
When  the  New  York  police  questioned  him  about 
this  arsenal,  he  said  he  had  purchased  them  in 
job  lots,  for  speculation.  As  a  matter  of  fact 
they  had  been  intended  for  use  in  India,  but  had 
been  diverted  on  the  Pacific  coast  and  returned 
to  New  York. 

A  bolder  version  of  the  plot  of  invasion  came 
from  Max  Lynar  Louden,  known  to  the  Federal 
authorities  as  ''Count  Louden."  He  was  a  man 
of  nondescript  reputation,  who  had  secret  com- 
munications with  the  Germans  in  the  early  part 
of  the  war.  He  confessed  that  he  was  party  to 
a  scheme  for  the  quick  mobilization  and  equip- 
ment of  a  full  army  of  German  reservists.     Lou- 


Military  Violence  71 

den  was  consistently  annoying  to  the  Secret  Serv- 
ice in  that  he  refused  openly  to  violate  the  neu- 
trality laws,  but  the  moment  the  authorities 
learned  of  the  fact  that  he  was  supposed  to  have 
two  or  three  wives  they  made  an  investigation 
which  resulted  in  his  imprisonment.  His  story, 
if  not  altogether  reliable,  is  interesting. 

Through  German-American  interests,  the 
plans  were  made  in  1914,  he  said,  and  a  fund  of 
$16,000,000  was  subscribed  to  carry  out  the  de- 
tails. Secret  meetings  were  held  in  New  York, 
Buffalo,  Philadelphia,  Detroit,  Milwaukee,  and 
other  large  cities,  and  at  these  meetings  it  was 
agreed  that  a  force  of  150,000  reservists  was 
available  to  seize  and  hold  the  Welland  Canal, 
strategic  points  and  munitions  centers. 

"We  had  it  arranged,"  said  Louden,  "to  send 
our  men  from  large  cities  following  announce- 
ments of  feasts  and  conventions,  and  I  think  we 
could  have  obtained  enough  to  carry  out  our 
plans  had  it  not  been  for  my  arrest  on  the  charge 
of  bigamy.  The  troops  were  to  have  been  divided 
into  four  divisions,  with  six  sections.  The  first 
two  divisions  were  to  have  assembled  at  Silver- 
creek,  Mich.  The  first  was  to  have  seized  the 
Welland  Canal.  The  second  was  to  have  taken 
Wind  Mill  Point,  Ontario.  The  third  was  to  s;o 
from  Wilson,  N.  Y.,  to  Port  Hope.     The  fourth 


72     Tlie  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

was  to  proceed  from  Watertown,  N,  Y.,  to  Kings- 
ton, Ontario.  The  fifth  was  to  assemble  near 
Detroit  and  land  near  Windsor.  The  sixth  sec- 
tion was  to  leave  Cornwall  and  take  possession  of 
Ottawa. 

''It  had  been  planned  to  buy  or  charter  eighty- 
four  excursion  and  small  boats  to  use  in  getting 
into  Canada.  All  of  the  equipment  was  to  have 
been  put  aboard  the  boats,  and  when  quarters  for 
120,000  men  had  been  found  it  would  have  been 
easy  to  continue  the  expedition.  The  German 
government  was  cognizant  of  the  plan  and  maps, 
etc.,  were  to  have  been  furnished  by  the  German 
government.  A  representative  of  the  British 
Ambassador  offered  $20,000  for  our  plans." 

But  none  of  the  first  German-American  expe- 
ditionary forces  left  for  their  destinations. 
Their  project  was  innocently  foiled  by  Amelia 
Wendt,  Rose  O'Brien  and  Nella  Florence  Allen- 
dorf.     These  ladies  were  Louden's  wives. 


CHAPTER  VI 

PAUL    KOENIG 

Justice  and  Metzler — Koenig's  personality — von  Pa- 
pen's  checks — The  "httle  black  book" — Telephone  codes 
— Shadowing — Koenig's  agents — His  betrayal. 

In  a  narrative  which  attempts  so  far  as  possi- 
ble to  proceed  chronologically,  it  becomes  neces- 
sary at  this  point  to  introduce  Paul  Koenig.  For, 
on  September  15,  1914,  he  sent  an  Irishman,  , 
named  Edmund  Justice,  who  had  been  a  dock 
watchman,  and  one  Frederick  Metzler  to  Quebec 
for  information  of  the  number  of  Canadian 
troops  in  training.  On  September  18  Koenig  left 
New  York  and  met  Metzler  in  Portland,  Maine. 
He  received  his  report,  and  on  September  25  was 
in  Burlington,  Vt.,  where  he  conferred  with  Jus- 
tice, and  learned  that  the  two  spies  had  inspected 
the  fortifications  in  Quebec,  and  had  visited  the 
training  camps  long  enough  to  estimate  the  num- 
ber and  condition  of  the  men.  (Their  informa- 
tion Koenig  reported  at  once  to  von  Papen,  and 
it  is  possible  that  it  dictated  Papen's  recall  of 
Goltz  from  Buffalo  the  next  day.) 

73 


74     The  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

Who  was  Paul  Koenig?  His  underlings  knew 
him  as  'T.  K.,"  and  called  him  the  ''bull-headed 
Westphalian"  behind  his  back.  He  had  a  dozen 
aliases,  among  them  Wegenkamp,  Wagener, 
Kelly,  Winter,  Perkins,  Stemler,  Rectorberg, 
Boehm,  Kennedy,  James,  Smith,  Murphy,  and 
W.  T.  Munday. 

He  was  a  product  of  the  ''Kaiser's  Own" — the 
Hamburg-American  Line.  He  had  been  a  detec- 
tive in  the  service  of  the  Atlas  Line,  a  subsidiary 
of  the  Hamburg- American,  and  for  some  years 
before  the  war  was  superintendent  of  the  latter 
company's  police.  In  that  capacity  he  bossed  a 
dozen  men,  watching  the  company's  laborers  and 
investigating  any  complaints  made  to  the  line. 
His  work  threw  him  into  constant  contact  with 
sailors,  tug-skippers,  wharf-rats,  longshoremen, 
and  dive-keepers  of  the  lowest  type,  and  there 
was  little  of  the  criminal  life  of  the  waterfront 
that  he  had  not  seen. 

He  had  arms  like  an  ape,  and  the  bodily 
strength  of  one.  His  expression  suggested  craft, 
ferocity,  and  brutality.  Altogether  his  powerful 
frame  and  lurid  vocabulary  made  him  a  figure 
to  avoid  or  respect.  W^aterf  ront  society  did  both 
— and  hated  him  as  well. 

Von  Papen  saw  in  Koenig's  little  police  force 
the  nucleus  of  just  such  an  organization  as  he 


Copyright,  Inttrnattonai  tiim  Servt 


Paul  Koenig,  the  Hamburg- American  emlpoye,  who  supplied 
and  directed  agents  of  German  violence  in  America 


Paul  Koenig  75 

needed.  The  Line  put  Koenig  at  the  attache's 
disposal  in  August,  1914,  and  straightway  von 
Papen  connected  certain  channels  of  information 
with  Koenig's  own  system.  He  supplied  reserv- 
ists for  special  investigations  and  crimes,  and 
presently  Koenig  became  in  effect  the  foreman 
of  a  large  part  of  Germany's  secret  service  in  the 
East.  As  his  activities  broadened,  he  was  called 
upon  to  execute  commissions  for  Bernstorff,  Al- 
bert, Dr.  Dumba,  the  Austro-Hungarian  ambas- 
sador, and  Dr.  Alexander  von  Nuber,  the  Aus- 
trian consul  in  New  York,  as  well  as  for  the  at- 
taches themselves.  He  acted  as  their  guard  on 
occasion,  served  as  their  confidential  messenger, 
and  made  himself  generally  useful  in  investiga- 
tion work. 

The  guilt-stained  check-book  of  the  military 
attache  contained  these  entries: 

March  29,  191 5.     Paul  Koenig  (Secret  Service  Bill) 

$509.11 

April  18,  Paul  Koenig  (Secret  Service  Bill)  $90.94 

May  II,  Paul  Koenig  (Secret  Service)  $66.71 

July  16,  Paul  Koenig  (Compensation  for  F.  J.  Busse) 

$150.00 

August  4,  Paul  Koenig  (5  bills  secret  service)  $118.92 

Those  entries  represent  only  the  payments  made 
Koenig  by  check  for  special  work  done  for  von 
Papen.     Koenig   received   his   wages   from   the 


76     The  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

Line.  When  he  performed  work  for  any  one 
else  he  rendered  a  special  bill.  This  necessitated 
his  itemizing  his  expenditures,  and  this  Germanly 
thorough  and  thoroughly  German  system  of  petty 
accounting  enabled  our  secret  service  later  to 
trace  his  activities  w^ith  considerable  success. 
Koenig  and  von  Papen  used  to  haggle  over  his 
bills — on  one  occasion  the  attache  felt  he  was 
being  overcharged,  and  accordingly  deducted  a 
half-dollar  from  the  total. 

"P.  K."  also  had  an  incriminating  book — a 
carefully  prepared  notebook  of  his  spies  and  of 
persons  in  New  York,  Boston  and  other  cities 
who  were  useful  in  furnishing  him  information. 
In  another  book  he  kept  a  complete  record  of  the 
purpose  and  cost  of  assignments  on  which  he  sent 
his  men.  He  listed  in  its  pages  the  names  of 
several  hundred  persons — army  reservists,  Ger- 
man-Americans and  Americans,  clerks,  scientists 
and  city  and  Federal  employees — showing  that 
his  district  was  large  and  that  his  range  for  get- 
ting information  and  for  supervising  other  pro- 
German  propaganda  was  broad.  For  his  own 
direct  staff  he  worked  out  a  system  of  numbers 
and  initials  to  be  used  in  communication.  The 
numbers  he  changed  at  regular  intervals  and  a 
system  of  progression  was  devised  by  which  each 
agent  would  know  when  his  number  changed. 


Paul  Koenig  77 

He  provided  them  with  suitable  aliases.  These 
men  had  alternative  codes  for  writing  letters  and 
for  telephone  communication  to  be  changed  au- 
tomatically by  certain  fixed  dates. 

Always  alert  for  spies  upon  himself,  Koenig 
suspected  that  his  telephone  wire  was  tapped 
and  that  his  orders  were  being  overheard.  So 
he  instructed  his  men  in  various  code  words.  If 
he  told  an  agent  to  meet  him  "at  5  o'clock  at  South 
Ferry"  he  meant:  "Meet  me  at  7  o'clock  at 
Forty-second  Street  and  Broadway."  His  sus- 
picions were  well-grounded,  for  his  wire  was 
tapped,  and  Koenig  led  the  men  who  were  spying 
on  him  an  unhappy  dance. 

For  example:  he  would  receive  a  call  on  the 
telephone  and  would  direct  his  agent,  at  the  other 
end  of  the  wire,  to  meet  him  in  fifteen  minutes,at 
Pabst's,  Harlem.  It  is  practically  impossible  to 
make  the  journey  from  Koenig's  office  in  the 
Hamburg- American  Building  to  125th  Street  in 
a  quarter  of  an  hour.  After  a  time  his  watch- 
ers learned  that  "Pabst's,  Harlem"  meant  Bor- 
ough Hall,  Brooklyn. 

He  never  went  out  in  the  daytime  without  one 
or  two  of  his  agents  trailing  him  to  see  whether 
he  was  being  shadowed.  He  used  to  turn  a  cor- 
ner suddenly  and  stand  still  so  that  an  American 
detective  following  came  unexpectedly  face  to 


78     The  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

face  with  him  and  betrayed  his  identity.  Koe- 
nig  would  laugh  heartily  and  pass  on.  Thus  he 
came  to  know  many  agents  of  the  Department 
of  Justice  and  many  New  York  detectives. 
When  he  started  out  at  night  he  usually  had 
three  of  his  own  men  follow  him  and  by  a  pre- 
arranged system  of  signals  inform  him  if  any 
strangers  were  following  him. 

The  task  of  keeping  watch  of  Koenig's  move- 
ments required  astute  guessing  and  tireless  work 
on  the  part  of  the  New  York  police.  So  elusive 
did  he  become  that  it  was  necessary  for  Captain 
Tunney  to  evolve  a  new  system  of  shadowing  him 
in  order  to  keep  him  in  sight  without  betraying 
that  he  was  under  surveillance.  One  detective, 
accordingly,  would  be  stationed  several  blocks 
away  and  would  start  out  ahead  of  Koenig. 
The  "front  shadow"  was  signaled  by  his  confed- 
erates in  the  rear  whenever  Koenig  turned  a  cor- 
ner, so  that  the  man  in  front  might  dart  down 
a  cross-street  and  manoeuvre  to  keep  ahead  of 
him.  If  Koenig  boarded  a  street  car  the  man 
ahead  would  hail  the  car  several  blocks  beyond, 
thus  avoiding  suspicion.  In  more  than  one  in- 
stance detectives  in  the  rear,  guessing  that  he 
was  about  to  take  a  car,  would  board  it  several 
blocks  before  it  got   abreast   of   Koenig.     His 


Paul  Koenig  79 

alertness  kept  Detectives  Barnitz,  Coy,  Terra, 
and  Corell  on  edge  for  months. 

It  was  impossible  to  overhear  direct  conversa- 
tion between  Koenig  and  any  man  to  whom  he 
was  mvinof  instructions.  Some  of  his  workers 
he  never  permitted  to  meet  him  at  all,  but  when 
he  kept  a  rendezvous  it  was  in  the  open,  in  the 
parks  in  broad  daylight,  or  in  a  moving-picture 
theatre,  or  in  the  Pennsylvania  Station,  or  the 
Grand  Central  Terminal.  There  he  could  make 
sure  that  nobody  was  eavesdropping.  If  he  met 
an  agent  in  the  open  for  the  first  time  he  gave  him 
some  such  command  at  this: 

''Be  at  Third  Avenue  and  Fifty-ninth  Street 
at  2:30  to-morrow  afternoon  beside  a  public  tele- 
phone booth  there.  When  the  telephone  rings 
answer  it." 

The  man  would  obey.  On  the  minute  the  tele- 
phone would  ring  and  the  man  would  lift  the 
receiver.  A  strange  voice  told  him  to  do  cer- 
tain things — either  a  definite  assignment,  or  in- 
structions to  be  at  a  similar  place  on  the  follow- 
ing day  to  receive  a  message.  Or  he  might  be 
told  to  meet  another  man,  who  would  give  him 
money  and  further  orders.  The  voice  at  the 
other  end  of  the  wire  spoke  from  a  public  tele- 
phone booth  and  was  thus  reasonably  sure  that 
the  wire  was  not  tapped. 


80     The  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

And  Koenig  trusted  no  man.  He  never  sent 
an  agent  out  on  a  job  without  detailing  another 
man  to  shadow  that  man  and  report  back  to  him 
in  full  the  operations  of  the  agent  and  of  any 
persons  whom  he  might  deal  with.  He  was  bru- 
tally severe  in  his  insistence  that  his  men  do  ex- 
actly what  he  told  them  without  using  their  own 
initiative. 

Koenig  had  spies  on  every  big  steamship  pier. 
He  had  eavesdroppers  in  hotels,  and  on  busy 
telephone  switchboards.  He  employed  porters, 
window-cleaners,  bank  clerks,  corporation  em- 
ployees and  even  a  member  of  the  Police  Depart- 
ment. 

This  last,  listed  in  his  book  as  ''Special  Agent 
A.  S.,"  was  Otto  F.  Mottola,  a  detective  in  the 
warrant  squad.  The  notebook  revealed  Mottola 
as  "Antonio  Marino,"  an  alias  later  changed  to 
Antonio  Salvatore.  Evidence  was  produced  at 
Mottola's  trial  at  Police  Pleadquarters  that  Koe- 
nig paid  him  for  investigating  a  passenger  who 
sailed  on  the  Bcrgensfjord;  that  he  often  called 
up  Mottola,  asked  questions,  and  received  an- 
swers which  Koenig's  stenographer  took  down 
in  shorthand.  Through  him  Koenig  sought  to 
keep  closely  informed  of  developments  at  Police 
Headquarters  in  the  inquiry  being  made  by  the 
police  into  the  activities  of  the  Germans.     Mot- 


Paul  Koenig  81 

tola  was  dismissed  from  the  force  because  of 
false  statements  made  to  his  superiors  when  they 
questioned  him  about  Koenig. 

Koenig's  very  caution  was  the  cause  of  his 
undoing.  The  detectives  who  shadowed  him 
learned  that  he  "never  employed  the  same  man 
more  than  once,"  which  meant  simply  that  he 
was  careful  to  place  no  subordinate  in  a  position 
where  blackmail  and  exposure  might  be  too  easy. 
To  this  fact  they  added  another  trifling  observa- 
tion; they  noticed  that  as  time  went  on  he  was 
seen  less  in  the  company  of  one  George  Fuchs, 
a  relative  with  whom  he  had  been  intimate  early 
in  the  war.  They  cultivated  the  young  man's 
acquaintance  to  the  extent  that  he  finally  burst 
out  with  a  recitation  of  his  grievances  against 
Koenig,  and  betrayed  him  to  the  authorities. 

"P.  K."  was  defiant  always.  'They  did  get 
Dr.  Albert's  portfolio,"  he  said  one  day,  "but 
they  won't  get  mine.     I  won't  carry  one." 


CHAPTER  VII 

FALSE    PASSPORTS 

Hans  von  Wedell's  bureau — The  traffic  in  false  pass- 
ports— Carl  Ruroede — Methods  of  forgery — Adams'  coup 
— von  Wedell's  letter  to  von  Bernstorff — Stegler — Lody 
— Berlin  counterfeits  American  passports — Von  Bree- 
chow. 

Throughout  August,  1914,  it  was  compara- 
tively easy  for  Germans  in  America  who  wished 
to  respond  to  the  call  of  the  Fatherland  to  leave 
American  shores.  A  number  of  circumstances 
tended  swiftly  to  make  it  more  hazardous.  The 
British  were  in  no  mind  to  permit  an  influx  of 
reservists  to  Germany  while  they  could  block- 
ade Germany.  The  cordon  tightened,  and  soon 
every  merchant  ship  was  stopped  at  sea  by  a 
British  patrol  and  searched  for  German  suspects. 
German  spies  here  took  refuge  in  the  protection 
afforded  by  an  American  passport.  False  pass- 
ports were  issued  by  the  State  Department  in 
considerable  quantities  during  the  early  weeks 
of  war — issued  unwittingly,  of  course,  for  the 

82 


False  Passports  83 

applicant  in  most  cases  underwent  no  more  than 
the  customary  peace-time  examination. 

We  have  already  seen  that  von  der  Goltz  easily 
secured  a  passport.  The  details  of  his  applica- 
tion were  these:  Karl  A.  Luederitz,  the  Ger- 
man consul  at  Baltimore,  detailed  one  of  his  men 
to  supply  Goltz  with  a  lawyer  and  an  application 
blank  (then  known  as  Form  375).  The  lawyer 
was  Frederick  F.  Schneider,  of  2  East  German 
Street,  Baltimore.  On  that  application  Goltz 
swore  that  his  name  was  Bridgeman  H.  Taylor, 
his  birthplace  San  Francisco,  his  citizenship 
American,  his  residence  New  York  City,  and  his 
occupation  that  of  export  broker.  Charles 
Tucker  served  as  witness  to  these  fantastic  sen- 
timents. Two  days  later  (August  31)  the  State 
Department  issued  passport  number  40308  in 
the  name  of  Taylor,  and  William  Jennings  Bryan 
signed  the  precious  document. 

It  was  not  necessary  at  that  time  to  state  the 
countries  which  the  applicant  intended  to  visit. 
Within  a  few  weeks,  however,  that  information 
was  required  on  the  passport. 

Each  additional  precaution  taken  by  the  Gov- 
ernment placed  a  new  obstacle  in  the  way  of  un- 
limited supply  of  passports.  The  Goltz  method 
was  easy  enough,  but  it  soon  became  impossible 
to  employ  it.     The  necessity  for  sending  news 


84     The  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

through  to  BerHn  by  courier  was  increasingly 
urgent  and  it  devolved  upon  Captain  von  Papen 
to  systematize  the  supply  of  passports.  The 
military  attache  in  November  selected  Lieutenant 
Hans  von  Wedell,  who  had  already  made  a  trip 
as  courier  to  Berlin  for  his  friend,  Count  von 
Bernstorff.  Von  Wedell  was  married  to  a  Ger- 
man baroness.  He  had  been  a  newspaper  repor- 
ter in  New  York,  and  later  a  lawyer.  He 
opened  an  office  in  Bridge  Street,  New  York,  and 
began  to  send  out  emissaries  to  sailors  on  interned 
German  liners,  and  to  their  friends  in  Hoboken, 
directing  them  to  apply  for  passports.  He  sent 
others  to  the  haunts  of  tramps  on  the  lower  East 
Side,  to  the  Mills  Hotel,  and  other  gathering 
places  of  the  down-and-outs,  offering  ten,  fifteen 
or  twenty  dollars  to  men  who  would  apply  for 
and  deliver  passports.  And  he  bought  them! 
He  spent  much  time  at  the  Deutscher  Verein,  and 
at  the  Elks'  Club  in  43rd  Street  where  he  often 
met  his  agents  to  give  instructions  and  receive 
passports.  His  bills  were  paid  by  Captain  von 
Papen,  as  revealed  by  the  attache's  checks  and 
check  stubs;  on  November  24,  19 14,  a  payment  in 
his  favor  of  $500;  on  December  5,  $500  more  and 
then  $300,  the  latter  being  for  "journey  money." 
Von  Wedell's  bills  at  the  Deutscher  Verein  in 
November,   1914,  came  to  $38.05,  according  to 


Cefrrlnht,   Intrrnuttonul  bilrn  Heriu 


Hans  von  Wedell  and  his  wife.    He  was  an  important  member 
of  the  false-passport  bureau  and  she  a  messenger 
from  von  Papen  to  Germany 


False  Passports  85 

another  counterfoil.  The  Captain  in  the  mean- 
time employed  Frau  von  Wedell  as  courier,  send- 
ing her  with  messages  to  Germany.  On  Decem- 
ber 22,  1914,  he  paid  the  baroness,  according  to 
his  check-book,  $800. 

The  passports  secured  by  von  Wedell,  and  by 
his  successor,  Carl  Ruroede,  Sr,,  a  clerk  in  Oel- 
richs  &  Co.,  whom  he  engaged,  were  supplied  by 
the  dozens  to  officers  whom  the  General  Staff 
had  ordered  back  to  Berlin.  Not  only  American 
passports,  but  Mexican,  Swiss,  Swedish,  Nor- 
wegian and  all  South  American  varieties  were 
seized  eagerly  by  reservists  bound  for  the  front. 
Germans  and  Austrians,  who  had  been  captured 
in  Russia,  sent  to  Siberia  as  prisoners  of  war, 
escaped  and  making  their  way  by  caravan  through 
China,  had  embarked  on  vessels  bound  for  Amer- 
ica. Arriving  in  New  York  they  shipped  for 
neutral  European  countries.  Among  them  was 
an  Austrian  officer,  an  expert  aeroplane  observer 
whose  feet  were  frozen  and  amputated  in  Siberia, 
but  who  escaped  to  this  country.  He  was  or- 
dered home  because  of  his  extreme  value  in  ob- 
servation, and  after  his  flight  three-fourths  of 
the  way  round  the  world,  the  British  took  him 
off  a  ship  at  Falmouth  to  spend  the  remainder  of 
the  war  in  a  prison  camp. 

Captain  von  Papen  used  the  bureau  frequently 


86     The  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

for  passports  for  spies  whom  he  wished  to  send 
to  England,  France,  Italy  or  Russia.  Anton 
Kucpferle  and  von  Breechow  were  two  such 
agents.  Both  were  captured  in  England  with 
false  passports  in  their  possession.  Both  con- 
fessed, and  the  former  killed  himself  in  Brixton 
Jail. 

Von  Wedell  and  Ruroede  grew  reckless  and 
boastful.  Two  hangers-on  at  the  Mills  Hotel 
called  upon  one  of  the  writers  of  this  volume  one 
day  and  told  him  of  von  Wedell's  practices,  re- 
lated how  they  had  blackmailed  him  out  of  $50, 
gave  his  private  telephone  numbers  and  set  forth 
his  haunts.  When  this  and  other  information 
reached  the  Department  of  Justice,  Albert  G. 
Adams,  a  clever  agent,  insinuated  himself  into 
Ruroede's  confidence,  and  offered  to  secure  pass- 
ports for  him  for  $50  each.  Posing  as  a  pro- 
German,  he  pried  into  the  inner  ring  of  the  pass- 
port-buyers, and  was  informed  by  Ruroede  just 
how  the  stock  of  passports  needed  replenishing. 

Though  in  the  early  days  of  the  war  it  had  not 
been  necessary  for  the  applicant  to  give  more 
than  a  general  description  of  himself,  the  cry  of 
"German  spies!"  in  the  Allied  countries  became 
so  insistent  that  the  Government  added  the  re- 
quirement of  a  photograph  of  the  bearer.  The 
Germans,  however,  found  it  a  simple  matter  to 


False  Passports  87 

give  a  general  description  of  a  man's  eyes,  color 
of  hair,  and  age  to  fit  the  person  who  was  actually 
to  use  the  document;  then  forwarded  the  pic- 
ture of  the  applicant  to  be  affixed.  The  appli- 
cant receiving  the  passport,  would  sell  it  at  once. 
Even  though  the  official  seal  was  stamped  on  the 
photograph  the  Germans  were  not  dismayed. 

Adams  rushed  into  Ruroede's  office  one  day 
waving  a  sheaf  of  five  passports  issued  to  him  by 
the  Government.  Adams  was  ostensibly  proud 
of  his  work,  Ruroede  openly  delighted. 

**I  knew  I  could  get  these  passports  easily,"  he 
boasted  to  Adams.  ''Why,  if  Lieutenant  von 
Wedell  had  kept  on  here  he  never  could  have  done 
this.     He  always  was  getting  into  a  muddle." 

''But  how  can  you  use  these  passports  with 
these  pictures  on  them?"  asked  the  agent. 

"Oh,  that's  easy,"  answered  Ruroede.  "Come 
in  the  back  room.  I'll  show  you."  And  Ru- 
roede, before  the  observant  eyes  of  the  Depart- 
ment of  Justice,  patted  one  of  the  passports  with 
a  damp  cloth,  then  with  adhesive  paste  fastened 
a  photograph  of  another  man  over  the  original 
bearing  the  imprint  of  the  United  States  seal. 

"We  wet  the  photograph,"  said  Ruroede,  "and 
then  we  affix  the  picture  of  the  man  who  is  to 
use  it.  The  new  photograph  also  is  dampened, 
but  when  it  is  fastened  to  the  passport  there  still 


88     The  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

remains  a  sort  of  vacuum  in  spots  between  the 
new  picture  and  the  old  because  of  ridges  made 
by  the  seal.  So  we  turn  the  passport  upside 
down,  place  it  on  a  soft  ground — say  a  silk  hand- 
kerchief— and  then  we  take  a  paper-cutter  with 
a  dull  point,  and  just  trace  the  letters  on  the  seal. 
The  result  is  that  the  new  photograph  dries  ex- 
actly as  if  it  had  been  stamped  by  Uncle  Sam. 
You  can't  tell  the  difference." 

Adams  never  knew  until  long  afterward  that 
when  he  met  Ruroede  by  appointment  in  Bowling 
Green,  another  German  atop  1 1  Broadway  was 
scrutinizing  him  through  field-glasses,  and  ex- 
amining every  one  who  paused  nearby,  who  might 
arouse  suspicion  of  Adams'  ingenuous  part  in 
the  transaction. 

Through  Adams'  efforts  Ruroede  and  four 
Germans,  one  of  them  an  officer  in  the  German 
reserves,  were  arrested  on  January  2,  on  the 
Scandinavian-American  liner  Bergensfjord  out- 
ward bound  to  Bergen,  Norway.  They  had  pass- 
ports issued  through  Adams  at  Ruroede's  request 
under  the  American  names  of  Howard  Paul 
Wright,  Herbert  S.  Wilson,  Peter  Hanson  and 
Stanley  F.  Martin.  Their  real  names  were  Ar- 
thur Sachse,  who  worked  in  Pelham  Heights,  N. 
Y.,  and  who  was  returning  to  become  a  lieutenant 
in  the  German  Army;  Walter  Miller,  August  R. 


False  Passports  89 

Meyer  and  Herman  Wegener,  who  had  come  to 
New  York  from  Chile,  on  their  way  to  the  Father- 
land. 

On  the  day  when  Ruroede,  his  assistant,  and  the 
four  men  for  whom  he  obtained  passports  were 
arrested,  Joseph  A.  Baker,  assistant  superintend- 
ent of  the  Federal  agents  in  New  York,  took  pos- 
session of  the  office  at  1 1  Bridge  Street.  As  he 
was  sorting  papers  and  making  a  general  inves- 
tigation, a  German  walked  in  bearing  a  card  of 
introduction  from  von  Papen,  introducing  him- 
self as  Wolfram  von  Knorr,  a  German  officer 
who  up  to  the  outbreak  of  the  war  had  been  naval 
attache  in  Tokio.  The  officer  desired  a  passport. 
Baker,  after  a  conversation  in  wdiich  von  Knorr 
revealed  von  Papen's  connection  with  the  pass- 
port bureau,  told  him  to  return  the  next  day. 
When  the  German  read  the  next  morning's  news- 
papers he  changed  his  lodging-place  and  his  name. 

Von  Wedell  himself  was  a  passenger  on  the 
Bergensfjord,  but  when  he  was  lined  up  with  the 
other  passengers,  the  Federal  agents,  who  did  not 
have  a  description  of  him,  missed  him  and  left 
the  vessel.  He  was  later  (January  ii)  taken 
off  the  ship  by  the  British,  however,  and  trans- 
ferred to  another  vessel  for  removal  to  a  prison 
camp.  She  struck  a  German  mine  and  sank,  and 
von  Wedell  is  supposed  to  have  drowned. 


90     The  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

A  few  days  before  he  sailed,  he  wrote  a  letter 
to  von  Bernstorff  which  fixes  beyond  question 
the  responsibility  for  his  false  passport  activities. 
The  letter,  dated  from  Nyack,  where  he  was  hid- 
ing, on  December  26,  1914,  follows: 

"His  Excellency  The  Imperial  German  Ambassador, 
Count  von  Bernstorff,  Washington,  D.  C.  Your  Excel- 
lency :  Allow  me  most  ohediently  to  put  before  you  the 
following  facts :  It  seems  that  an  attempt  has  been  made 
to  produce  the  impression  upon  you  that  I  prematurely 
abandoned  my  post,   in   New  York.     That  is  not  true. 

"I — My  work  was  done.  At  my  departure  I  left  the 
service,  well  organized  and  worked  out  to  its  minutest 
details,  in  the  hands  of  my  successor,  Mr.  Carl  Ruroede, 
picked  out  by  myself,  and,  despite  many  warnings,  still 
tarried  for  several  days  in  New  York  in  order  to  give 
him  the  necessary  final  directions  and  in  order  to  hold  in 
check  the  blackmailers  thrown  on  my  hands  by  the  Ger- 
man officers  until  after  the  passage  of  my  travelers 
through  Gibraltar ;  in  which  I  succeeded.  Mr.  Ruroede 
will  testify  to  you  that  without  my  suitable  preliminary 
labors,  in  which  I  left  no  conceivable  means  untried  and 
in  which  I  took  not  the  slightest  consideration  of  my 
personal  weal  or  woe,  it  would  be  impossible  for  him,  as 
well  as  for  Mr.  von  Papen,  to  forward  officers  and  'as- 
pirants' in  any  number  whatever,  to  Europe.  This  merit 
I  lay  claim  to  and  the  occurrences  of  the  last  days  have 
unfortunately  compelled  me,  out  of  sheer  self-respect,  to 
emphasize  this  to  your  Excellency. 

"11 — The  motives   which  induced  me  to  leave   New 


False  Passports  91 

York  and  which,  to  my  astonishment,  were  not  communi- 
cated to  you,  are  the  following: 

"i.  I  knew  that  the  State  Department  had,  for  three 
weeks,  withheld  a  passport  application  forged  by  me. 
Why? 

"2.  Ten  days  before  my  departure  I  learnt  from  a 
telegram  sent  me  by  Mr.  von  Papen,  which  stirred  me  up 
very  much,  and  further  through  the  omission  of  a  cable, 
that  Dr.  Stark  had  fallen  into  the  hands  of  the  English. 
That  gentleman's  forged  papers  were  liable  to  come  back 
any  day  and  could,  owing  chiefly  to  his  lack  of  caution, 
easily  be  traced  back  to  me. 

"3.  Officers  and  aspirants  of  the  class  which  I  had  to 
forward  over,  namely  the  people,  saddled  me  with  a  lot 
of  criminals  and  blackmailers,  whose  eventual  revelations 
were  liable  to  bring  about  any  day  the  explosion  of  the 
bomb. 

"4.  Mr.  von  Papen  had  repeatedly  urgently  ordered 
me  to  hide  myself. 

"  5.  Mr.  Igel  had  told  me  I  was  taking  the  matter  alto- 
gether too  lightly  and  ought  to — for  God's  sake — dis- 
appear. 

"6.  My  counsel  .  .  .  had  advised  me  to  hastily  quit 
New  York,  inasmuch  as  a  local  detective  agency  was  or- 
dered to  go  after  the  passport  forgeries. 

"7.  It  had  become  clear  to  me  that  eventual  arrest 
might  yet  injure  the  worthy  undertaking  and  that  my 
disappearance  would  probably  put  a  stop  to  all  investi- 
gation in  this  direction. 

"How  urgent  it  was  for  me  to  go  away  is  shown  by 
the  fact  that,  two  days  after  my  departure,  detectives, 
who  had  followed  up  my  telephone  calls,  hunted  up  my 


92     The  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

wife's  harmless  and  unsuspecting  cousin  in  Brooklyn,  and 
subjected  her  to  an  interrogatory. 

"Mr.  von  Papen  and  Mr.  Albert  have  told  my  wife 
that  I  forced  myself  forward  to  do  this  work.  That  is 
not  true.  When  I,  in  Berlin,  for  the  first  time  heard  of 
this  commission,  I  objected  to  going  and  represented  to 
the  gentleman  that  my  entire  livelihood  which  I  had 
created  for  myself  in  America  by  six  years  of  labor  was 
at  stake  therein.  I  have  no  other  means,  and  although 
Mr.  Albert  told  my  wife  my  practice  was  not  worth 
talking  about,  it  sufficed,  nevertheless,  to  decently  sup- 
port myself  and  wife  and  to  build  my  future  on.  I  have 
finally,  at  the  suasion  of  Count  Wedell,  undertaken  it, 
ready  to  sacrifice  my  future  and  that  of  my  wife.  I  have, 
in  order  to  reach  my  goal,  despite  infinite  difficulties,  de- 
stroyed everything  that  I  built  up  here  for  myself  and 
my  wife.  I  have  perhaps  sometimes  been  awkward,  but 
always  full  of  good  will,  and  I  now  travel  back  to  Ger- 
many with  the  consciousness  of  having  done  my  duty  as 
well  as  I  understood  it,  and  of  having  accomplished  my 
task. 

"With  expressions  of  the  most  exquisite  consideration, 
I  am,  your  Excellency, 

"Very  respectfully, 
"(Signed)  Hans  Adam  von  Wedell." 

Ruroede  was  sentenced  to  three  years  in  At- 
lanta prison.  The  four  reservists,  pleading 
guilty,  protested  they  had  taken  the  passports  out 
of  patriotism  and  v^^ere  fined  $200  each. 

The  arrest  of  Ruroede  exposed  the  Nev^  York 
bureau,  and  made  it  necessary  for  the  Germans 


False  Passports  93 

to  shift  their  base  of  operations,  but  it  did  not 
put  an  end  to  the  fraudulent  passport  conspira- 
cies. Captain  Boy-Ed  assumed  the  burden,  and 
hired  men  to  secure  passports  for  him.  One  of 
these  men  was  Richard  Peter  Stegler,  a  Prussian, 
33  years  old,  who  had  served  in  the  German 
Navy  and  afterward  came  to  this  country  to 
start  on  his  life  work.  Before  the  war  he  had 
applied  for  his  first  citizenship  papers  but  his 
name  had  not  been  removed  from  the  German 
naval  reserve  list. 

''After  the  war  started,"  Stegler  said,  "I  re- 
ceived orders  to  return  home.  I  was  told  that 
everything  was  in  readiness  for  me.  I  was  as- 
signed to  the  naval  station  at  Cuxhaven.  My 
uniform,  my  cap,  my  boots  and  my  locker  would 
be  all  set  aside  for  me,  and  I  was  told  just  where 
to  go  and  what  to  do.  But  I  could  not  get  back 
at  that  time  and  I  kept  on  with  my  work." 

He  became  instead  a  member  of  the  German 
secret  service  in  New  York.  "There  is  not  a 
ship  that  leaves  the  harbor,  not  a  cargo  that  is 
loaded  or  unloaded,  but  that  some  member  of  this 
secret  organization  watches  and  reports  every 
detail,"  he  said.  "All  this  information  is  trans- 
mitted in  code  to  the  German  Government."  In 
January,  191 5,  if  not  earlier,  Stegler  was  sent 
by   the   German    Consulate   to    Boy-Ed's   office, 


94     The  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

where  he  received  instructions  to  get  a  passport 
and  make  arrangements  to  go  to  England  as  a 
spy.  Boy-Ed  paid  him  $178,  which  the  attache 
admitted.  Stegler  immediately  got  in  touch  with 
Gustave  Cook  and  Richard  Madden,  of  Hoboken, 
and  made  use  of  Madden's  birth  certificate  and 
citizenship  in  obtaining  a  passport  from  the 
American  Government.  Stegler  paid  $100  for 
the  document.  Stegler  pleaded  guilty  to  the 
charge  and  served  60  days  in  jail;  Madden  and 
Cook  were  convicted  of  conspiracy  in  connection 
with  the  project,  and  were  sentenced  to  10 
months'  imprisonment. 

"I  was  told  to  make  the  voyage  to  England  on 
the  Lusitania/'  continued  Stegler.  ''My  instruc- 
tions were  as  follows :  'Stop  at  Liverpool,  exam- 
ine the  Mersey  River,  obtain  the  names,  exact 
locations  and  all  possible  information  concerning 
warships  around  Liverpool,  ascertain  the  amount 
of  munitions  of  war  being  unloaded  on  the  Liver- 
pool docks  from  the  United  States,  ascertain  their 
ultimate  destination,  and  obtain  a  detailed  list  of 
all  the  ships  in  the  harbor.' 

"I  was  to  make  constant,  though  guarded  in- 
quiries, of  the  location  of  the  dreadnought  squad- 
ron which  the  Germans  in  New  York  understand 
was  anchored  somewhere  near  St.  George's 
Channel.     I  was  to  appear  as  an  American  citi- 


False  Passports  95 

zen  soliciting  trade.  Captain  Boy-Ed  advised 
me  to  get  letters  of  introduction  to  business  firms. 
He  made  arrangements  so  that  I  received  such 
letters  and  in  one  letter  were  enclosed  some  rare 
stamps  which  were  to  be  a  proof  to  certain  per- 
sons in  England  that  I  was  working  for  the  Ger- 
mans. 

"After  having  studied  at  Liverpool  I  was  to 
go  to  London  and  make  an  investigation  of  the 
Thames  and  its  shipping.  From  there  I  was  to 
proceed  to  Holland  and  work  my  way  to  the 
German  border.  While  my  passport  did  not  in- 
clude Germany,  I  was  to  give  the  captain  of  the 
nearest  regiment  a  secret  number  which  would 
indicate  to  him  that  I  was  a  reservist  on  spy  duty. 
By  that  means  I  was  to  hurry  to  Eisendal,  head 
of  the  secret  service  in  Berlin." 

Stegler  did  not  make  the  trip  because  his  wife 
learned  of  the  enterprise  and  begged  him  not  to 
go.  He  too  had  run  afoul  of  the  vigilant  Adams, 
and  was  placed  under  arrest  in  February,  191 5, 
shortly  after  he  decided  to  stay  at  home.  In  his 
possession  were  all  the  letters  and  telegrams  ex- 
changed between  him  and  Boy-Ed,  and  one  tele- 
gram from  "Winkler,"  Captain  Boy-Ed's  serv- 
ant. 

Stegler  also  said  that  he  had  been  told  by  Dr. 
Karl  A.  Fuehr,  one  of  Dr.  Albert's  assistants, 


96     The  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

that  Boy-Ed  previously  had  sent  to  England 
Karl  Hans  Lody,  the  German  who  in  November, 
191 5,  was  put  to  death  as  a  spy  in  the  Tower  of 
London.  Lody  had  been  in  the  navy,  had  served 
on  the  Kaiser's  yacht  and  then  had  come  to  this 
country  and  worked  as  an  agent  for  the  Ham- 
burg-American Line,  going  from  one  city  to  an- 
other. Shortly  after  the  war  started  Lody  had 
gone  on  the  mission  of  espionage  which  cost  him 
his  life. 

Captain  Boy-Ed  authorized  the  commander  of 
the  German  cruiser  Geier,  interned  in  Honolulu, 
to  get  his  men  back  to  Germany  as  best  he  could, 
by  providing  them  with  false  passports.  Still 
another  of  Boy-Ed's  proteges  was  a  naval  re- 
servist, August  Meier,  who  shipped  as  a  hand  on 
the  freighter  Evelyn  with  a  cargo  of  horses  for 
Bermuda.  On  the  voyage  practically  all  of  the 
horses  were  poisoned.  Meier,  however,  was  ar- 
rested by  the  Federal  authorities  on  the  charge  of 
using  the  name  of  a  dead  man  in  order  to  get  an 
American  passport.  In  supplying  passports  and 
in  handling  spies.  Captain  Boy-Ed  was  more  sub- 
tle than  his  colleague,  von  Papen.  Nevertheless 
the  Government  officials  succeeded  in  getting  a 
clear  outline  of  his  activities.  The  exposure  of 
Boy-Ed's  connection  with  Stegler  made  it  neces- 


False  Passports  97 

sary  for  the  German  Government  to  change  its 
system  once  more. 

The  Wilhelmstrasse  had  a  bureau  of  its  own. 
Reservists  from  America  reported  in  Berhn  for 
duty  in  Belgium  and  France,  and  their  passports 
ceased  to  be  useful,  to  them.  The  intelligence 
department  commandeered  the  documents  for 
agents  whom  they  wished  to  send  back  to  Amer- 
ica. Tiny  flakes  of  paper  were  torn  from  the 
body  of  the  passport  and  from  the  seal,  in  order 
that  counterfeiters  might  match  them  up.  On 
January  14,  191 5,  an  American  named  Reginald 
Rowland  obtained  a  passport  from  the  State  De- 
partment for  safe-conduct  on  a  business  trip  to 
Germany.  While  it  was  being  examined  at  the 
frontier  every  detail  of  the  document  was  closely 
noted  by  the  Germans.  Some  months  later  Cap- 
tain Schnitzer,  chief  of  the  German  secret  service 
in  Antwerp,  had  occasion  to  send  a  spy  to  Eng- 
land. He  chose  von  Breechow,  a  German  whom 
von  Papen  had  forwarded  from  New  York,  and 
who  had  his  first  naturalization  papers  from  the 
United  States.  To  Breechow  he  gave  a  facsimile 
of  Rowland's  passport  identical  with  the  original 
in  every  superficial  respect  except  that  the  spy's 
photograph  had  been  substituted  for  the  original, 
and  the  age  of  the  bearer  set  down  as  31 — ten 
years  older  than  Rowland. 


98     The  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

Von  Breechow  passed  the  English  officials  at 
Rotterdam  and  at  Tilbury.  He  soon  fell  under 
suspicion,  however,  and  his  passport  was  taken 
away.  When  the  British  learned  that  the  real 
Rowland  was  at  home  in  New  Jersey,  and  in  pos- 
session of  his  own  passport,  they  sent  for  it,  and 
compared  the  two.  B  reecho w's  revealed  a  false 
watermark,  stamped  on  in  clear  grease,  which 
made  the  paper  translucent,  but  which  was  soluble 
in  benzine.  The  stamp,  ordinarily  used  to  coun- 
tersign both  the  photograph  and  the  paper  in  a 
certain  way,  had  been  applied  in  a  different  posi- 
tion. With  those  exceptions,  and  the  suspicious 
Teutonic  twist  to  a  "d"  in  the  word  "dark,"  the 
counterfeit  was  regular. 

The  Rosenthal  case  was  the  first  to  bring  to 
light  the  false  passport  activities  in  Berlin.  Ro- 
senthal, posing  as  an  agent  for  gas  mantles,  trav- 
eled in  England  successfully  as  a  spy  under  an 
emergency  passport  issued  by  the  American  Em- 
bassy in  Berlin.  Captain  Prieger,  the  chief  of  a 
section  in  the  intelligence  department  of  the  Gen- 
eral Staff,  asked  Rosenthal  to  make  a  second  trip. 
The  spy  demurred,  doubting  whether  his  pass- 
port might  be  accepted  a  second  time.  The  Cap- 
tain turned  to  a  safe,  extracted  a  handful  of  false 
American  passports,  and  said:  *T  can  fit  you 
out  with  a  passport  in  any  name  you  wish."     Ro- 


False  Passports  99 

senthal  decided  to  employ  his  own.     He  was  ar- 
rested and  imprisoned  in  England. 

As  the  State  Department  increased  its  vigil- 
ance the  evil  began  to  expire.  It  was  further 
stifled  by  concerted  multiplication  by  the  Allies 
of  the  examinations  which  the  stranger  had  to 
undergo.  But  during  its  course  it  made  per- 
sonal communication  between  Berlin  and  lower 
Broadway  almost  casual. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

INCENDIARISM 

Increased  munitions  production — The  opening  explo- 
sions— Orders  from  Berlin — Von  Papen  and  Seattle — 
July,  191 5 — The  Van  Koolbergen  affair — The  autumn  of 
191 5 — The  Pinole  explosion. 

A  bomb  is  an  easy  object  to  manufacture. 
Take  a  section  of  lead  pipe  from  six  to  ten  inches 
long,  and  solder  into  it  a  partition  of  thin  metal, 
which  divides  the  tube  into  two  compartments. 
Place  a  high  explosive  in  one  compartment  and 
seal  it  carefully  (the  entire  operation  requires  a 
gentle  touch)  and  in  the  other  end  pour  a  strong 
acid ;  cap  it,  and  seal  it.  If  you  have  chosen  the 
proper  metal  for  the  partition,  and  acid  of  a 
strength  to  eat  slowly  through  it  to  the  explosive, 
you  have  produced  a  bomb  of  a  type  which  Ger- 
man destroying  agents  were  fond  of  using  in 
America  from  the  earliest  days  of  their  opera- 
tion. 

W^hen  the  first  panic  of  war  had  passed,  the 

Allied  nations  took  account  of  stock  and  sent 

their  purchasing  agents  to  America  for  war  ma- 

100 


Incendiarism  lOt 

terials.  Manufacturers  6f  explosives  set  to  work 
at  once  to  fill  contracts  of  unheard-of  size.  They 
built  new  factories  almost  overnight,  hired  men 
broadcast,  and  sacrificed  every  other  considera- 
tion to  that  of  swift  and  voluminous  output. 
Accidents  were  inevitable.  Probably  we  shall 
never  know  what  catastrophes  w^ere  actually 
wrought  by  German  sympathizers,  for  the  very 
nature  of  the  processes  and  the  complete  ruin 
which  followed  an  explosion  guarded  the  secret 
of  guilt.  No  doubt  carelessness  was  largely  to 
blame  for  the  earlier  explosions,  but  instead  of 
diminishing  as  the  new  hands  became  more  skill- 
ful, and  as  greater  vigilance  was  employed  every- 
where, the  number  of  disasters  increased.  The 
word  ''disaster"  is  used  advisedly.  Powder,  gun- 
cotton,  trinitrotoluol  (or  TNT,  as  it  is  better 
known),  benzol  (one  of  the  chief  substances 
used  in  the  manufacture  of  TNT)  and  dynamite 
were  being  produced  in  great  volume  for  the 
Allies  in  American  plants  within  a  comparatively 
short  time — all  powerful  explosives  even  in  mi- 
nute quantity. 

At  sea  the  German  navy  was  losing  control 
daily.  It  therefore  behooved  the  German  forces 
in  America  to  stop  the  production  of  munitions 
at  its  source.  It  may  be  well,  for  the  force  which 
such  presentation  carries,  to  recount  very  briefly 


102     The  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

the  major  accidents  which  occurred  in  America 
in  the  first  few  months  after  August,  1914. 

On  August  30  one  powder  mill  of  the  du  Pont 
Powder  company  (strictly  speaking  the  E.  I.  du 
Pont  de  Nemours  Company)  at  Pompton  Lakes, 
New  Jersey,  blew  up.  In  September  a  guncotton 
explosion  in  the  Wright  Chemical  Works  caused 
the  death  of  three  people,  and  a  large  property 
damage.  In  October  the  factory  of  the  Pain  Fire- 
works Display  Company  was  destroyed,  and  sev- 
eral people  were  killed.  In  the  same  month  the 
fireworks  factory  of  Detwiller  and  Street  in  Jer- 
sey City  suffered  an  explosion  and  the  loss  of 
four  lives.  These  explosions  were  the  opening 
guns. 

Throughout  August  and  September  most  of 
these  accidents  may  be  attributed  to  the  inexpe- 
rience and  confusion  which  followed  greatly  in- 
creased production  in  the  powder  mills.  But  a 
circular  dated  November  18,  issued  by  German 
Naval  Headquarters  to  all  naval  agents  through- 
out the  world,  ordered  mobilized  all  ''agents  who 
are  overseas  and  all  destroying  agents  in  ports 
where  vessels  carrying  war  material  are  loaded 
in  England,  France,  Canada,  the  United  States 
and  Russia." 

Followed  these  orders : 

'Tt  is  indispensable  by  the  intermediary  of  the 


Incendiarism  103 

third  person  having  no  relation  with  the  official 
representatives  of  Germany  to  recruit  progres- 
sively agents  to  organize  explosions  on  ships 
sailing  to  enemy  countries  in  order  to  cause  de- 
lays and  confusion  in  the  loading,  the  departure 
and  the  unloading  of  these  ships.  With  this  end 
in  view  we  particularly  recommend  to  your  at- 
tention the  deckhands,  among  whom  are  to  be 
found  a  great  many  anarchists  and  escaped  crim- 
inals. The  necessary  sums  for  buying  and  hir- 
ing persons  charged  with  executing  the  projects 
will  be  put  at  your  disposal  on  your  demand." 

Equally  incriminating  proof  that  the  ''destroy- 
ing agents"  were  active  in  and  about  the  fac- 
tories lies  in  a  circular  intercepted  by  the  French 
secret  service  in  Stockholm,  in  a  letter  addressed 
by  one  Dr.  Klasse  in  Germany  to  the  Pan-German 
League  in  Sweden,  in  which  he  said : 

"Inclosed  is  the  circular  of  November  22,  1914, 
for  information  and  execution  upon  United 
States  territory.  We  draw  your  attention  to  the 
possibility  of  recruiting  destroying  agents  among 
the  anarchist  labor  organization."  This  circular 
was  signed  by  Dr.  Fischer,  Councillor  General  of 
the  German  Army. 

In  the  first  six  months  of  191 5  the  du  Pont 
factories  at  Haskell,  N.  J.,  Carney's  Point,  N.  J., 
Wayne,  Pa.,  and  Wilmington,  Del.,  experienced 


104     The  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

explosions  and  fires;  a  chemical  explosion  oc- 
curred in  a  factory  in  East  19th  Street,  New 
York ;  the  Anderson  Chemical  Company,  at  Wal- 
lington,  N.  J.,  was  rocked  on  May  3  by  an  explo- 
sion of  guncotton  which  cost  three  lives;  five 
more  lives  were  flashed  out  in  a  similar  accident 
in  the  Equitable  powder  plant  at  Alton,  111.  On 
New  Year's  Day,  the  Buckthorne  plant  of  the 
John  A.  Roebling  Company,  manufacturers  of 
shell  materials,  at  Trenton,  was  completely  de- 
stroyed by  fire,  the  property  loss  estimated  at 
$1,500,000.  And  on  June  26,  the  ^tna  Powder 
plant  at  Pittsburgh  suffered  a  chemical  explosion 
which  killed  one  man  and  injured  ten  others. 

Most  of  these  "accidents"  had  taken  place  near 
the  Atlantic  seaboard.  Yet  Germany  was  active 
in  the  far  West.  On  May  30  a  barge  laden  with 
a  large  cargo  of  dynamite  lay  in  the  harbor  of 
Seattle,  Washington.  The  dynamite  was  con- 
signed to  Russia  and  was  about  to  be  transferred 
to  a  steamer,  when  it  exploded  with  a  shock  of 
earthquake  violence  felt  many  miles  inland,  and 
comparable  to  the  explosion  in  the  harbor  of 
Halifax  in  December,  191 7.  Two  counterfoils 
in  von  Papen's  check-book  cast  some  light  on  the 
activities  of  the  consulate  in  Seattle,  the  first 
dated  February  11,  1915,  the  amount  $1,300,  the 
payee  ''German  Consulate,  Seattle,"  the  penned 


Incendiarism  105 

notation  "Angelegenheit"  (affair)  preceded  by  a 
mysterious  "C";  the  second  dated  May  ii,  1915, 
for  $500,  payable  to  one  "Schulenberg"  ^  through 
the  same  consulate. 

The  month  of  July  was  a  holocaust.  A  tank 
of  phenol  exploded  in  New  York,  the  benzol  plant 
of  the  Semet  Solvay  Company  vv^as  destroyed  at 
Solvay,  N.  Y. ;  on  the  7th  serious  explosions  oc- 
curred at  the  du  Pont  plant  at  Pompton  Lakes 
and  at  the  Philadelphia  benzol  plant  of  Harrison 
Brothers  (the  latter  causing  $500,000  damage) ; 
on  the  1 6th  five  employees  were  killed  in  an  ex- 
plosion and  fire  at  the  ^tna  plant  at  Sinnema- 
honing,  Pa.,  three  days  later  there  was  another 
at  the  du  Pont  plant  in  Wilmington ;  on  the  25th 
a  munitions  train  on  the  Pennsylvania  line  was 
wrecked  at  Metuchen,  N.  J. ;  on  the  28th  the  du 
Pont  works  at  Wilmington  suffered  again;  and 

1  Franz  Schulenberg  was  a  deserter  from  the  German  army 
who  advertised  in  the  Spokane  newspapers  in  February,  1915, 
for  land  on  which  to  colonize  a  number  of  Spanish  families. 
These  families  turned  out  to  be  Hindus,  whom  he  proposed 
to  employ  in  obtaining  information  of  Canadian  shipping,  to  be 
relayed  by  secret  wireless  to  German  raiders  in  the  Pacific. 
Schulenberg  was  captured  on  December  5,  1917,  in  an  auto- 
mobile on  the  road  from  Santa  Cruz  to  San  Francisco,  two 
days  after  he  had  left  a  woman  spy  who  was  associated  with 
von  Papen's  ofBce,  and  who  directed  Schulenberg's  movements 
in  the  United  States.  He  admitted  having  bought,  in  1915,  a  ton 
of  dynamite,  fifty  Maxim  silencers,  fifty  rifles,  and  a  quantity 
of  fuse  for  shipment  to  Hindus  near  the  Canadian  border,  be- 
tween Victoria  and  Vancouver. 


106     The  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

the  month  came  to  a  fitting  close  with  the  de- 
struction of  a  glaze  mill  in  the  American  Powder 
Company  at  Acton,  Mass.,  on  the  29th.  (The 
British  army  in  Mesopotamia  had  just  entered 
Kut-el-Amara  at  this  time,  and  far  to  the  north- 
ward Germany  was  prosecuting  a  successful  cam- 
paign to  force  a  Russian  retirement  from  Po- 
land.) 

Each  incident  raised  havoc  in  its  immediate 
vicinity.  Each  represents  a  carefully  worked-out 
plan  involving  a  group  of  destroying  agents. 
There  is  not  space  here  to  describe  the  plots 
in  detail,  nor  to  picture  the  horror  of  their  re- 
sults. But  the  affidavit  of  Johannes  Hendrikus 
Van  Koolbergen,  dated  San  Francisco,  August 
27,  1915,  may  serve  to  show  typical  methods  of 
operation,  as  well  as  to  provide  a  story  more  than 
usually  melodramatic. 

Van  Koolbergen  was  a  Hollander  by  birth,  and 
a  British  subject  by  naturalization.  In  April, 
191 5,  he  met  in  the  Heidelberg  Cafe,  in  San  Fran- 
cisco, a  man  named  Wilhelm  von  Brincken,  who 
lived  at  303  Piccadilly  Apartments,  and  who 
asked  Van  Koolbergen  to  call  on  him  there.  The 
latter,  however,  was  leaving  for  Canada,  and  it 
was  not  until  some  five  weeks  later  that  he  re- 
turned and  found  that  in  his  absence  von  Brincken 


Incendiarism  107 

had  twice  telephoned  him  to  pursue  the  acquaint- 
ance. 

Van  Koolbergen  called.  Von  Brincken  ex- 
plained that  he  was  a  German  army  officer,  on  se- 
cret service,  and  employed  directly  by  Franz 
Bopp,  the  German  consul  in  San  Francisco.  His 
visitor's  identity  and  personality  was  apparently 
well  known  to  him,  for  he  offered  Van  Kool- 
bergen $i,ooo  for  the  use  of  his  passport  into 
Canada,  "to  visit  a  friend,  to  assist  him  in  some 
business  matters."  Van  Koolbergen  refused  to 
rent  his  passport,  but  volunteered  to  go  himself 
on  any  mission.  This  offer  was  discussed  at  a 
later  meeting  at  the  consulate  with  Herr  Bopp, 
and  accepted,  after,  as  Koolbergen  said,  "I  be- 
came suspicious,  and  upon  different  questions  be- 
ing asked  me  ...  I  became  very  pro-German  in 
the  expression  of  my  sentiments." 

He  was  shown  into  an  adjoining  office,  and  von 
Brincken  popped  in,  and  "asked  me  if  I  would 
do  something  for  him  in  Canada  .  .  .  and  I  an- 
swered: 'Sure,  I  will  do  something,  even  blow 
up  bridges,  if  there  is  any  money  in  it.'  (This 
struck  my  mind  because  of  what  I  had  read  of 
what  had  been  done  in  Canada  of  late — some- 
thing about  a  bridge  being  blown  up — )  And  he 
said :     Tf  that  is  so,  you  can  make  good  money.'  " 


108     The  Get^man  Secret  Service  in  America 

Von  Brincken  made  an  appointment  with  his 
newly  engaged  destroying  agent  for  the  follow- 
ing day.  On  the  window-sill  of  303  Piccad'.lly 
Apartments  sat  a  flower  pot  with  a  tri-colored 
band  around  its  rim.  If  the  red  was  turned  out- 
ward towards  Van  Koolbergen  as  he  came  along 
the  street,  he  was  to  come  right  upstairs.  If 
he  saw  the  blue,  he  was  to  loiter  discreetly  about 
until  the  red  was  turned ;  if  the  white  area  showed, 
he  was  to  return  another  day. 

The  red  invitation  signaled  him  to  come  up, 
and  the  two  bargained  for  some  time  over  Van 
Koolbergen's  Canadian  mission,  without  coming 
to  an  understanding.  Once  safely  out  of  von 
Brincken's  sight,  the  "destroying  agent"  pattered 
to  the  British  Consulate  and  betrayed  to  Carnegie 
Ross,  the  consul,  what  was  afoot.  Ross  urged 
him  to  advise  Canada  at  once,  so  Van  Koolbergen 
retold  his  story  in  a  letter  to  Wallace  Orchard, 
in  the  freight  department  of  the  Canadian  Pacific 
Railway  at  Vancouver,  B.  C. 

Orchard  telegraphed  back  demanding  Van 
Koolbergen's  presence  at  once,  and  furnished 
money  and  transportation.  Meanwhile  the  latter 
had  pretended  to  accept  vonBricken's  commission 
to  go  to  Canada  and  blow^  up  a  military  train, 
bridge,  or  tunnel  on  the  Canadian  Pacific  line  be- 
tween Revelstoke  and  Vancouver,  for  which  he 


Incendiarism  109 

was  to  receive  a  fee  of  $3,000.  The  German  ex- 
hibited complete  maps  of  the  raih'oad,  told  when 
a  dynamite  train  might  be  expected  to  pass  over 
that  section  of  the  road,  and  outlined  to  Van 
Koolbergen  just  where  and  when  he  could  pro- 
cure dynamite  for  the  job.  So  on  a  Sunday 
morning  in  early  May  Van  Koolbergen  arrived 
in  Vancouver,  and  lost  no  time  in  getting  in  touch 
with  Orchard  and  the  British  Secret  Service, 
with  whom  he  framed  the  following  plan : 

Van  Koolbergen  was  to  send  a  letter  to  von 
Brincken  warning  him  that  something  would  hap- 
pen in  a  day  or  two.  The  Vancouver  newspapers 
would  then  carry  a  prepared  story  to  the  effect 
that  a  tunnel  had  caved  in  in  the  Selkirk  moun- 
tains, whereupon  Van  Koolbergen  was  to  collect 
for  his  services,  and  to  secure  incriminating  evi- 
dence in  writing  from  von  Brincken  if  possible. 

The  plot  worked  well.  The  news  story  ap- 
peared, and  cast  a  mysterious  air  over  the  acci- 
dent. Van  Koolbergen  at  once  wrote  a  postcard 
to  von  Brincken: 

"On  the  front  page  of  Vancouver  papers  of  (date) 
news  appears  of  a  flood  in  Japan.  Our  system  may  be 
in  trouble,  so  wire  here  at  the  Elysium  Hotel." 

A  few  days  later  Van  Koolbergen  returned  to 
San  Francisco  and  met  von  Brincken,  who  told 


110     The  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

him  that  he  had  rephed  to  the  postcard  by  tele- 
gram : 

"Would  like  to  send  some  flowers  to  your  wife  but  do 
not  know  her  address," 

which  meant  simply  that  he  had  wished  to  com- 
municate with  Van  Koolbergen  through  the  lat- 
ter's  wife.  (These  messages,  by  the  way,  were 
despatched  from  Oakland  by  Charles  C.  Crow- 
ley, who  will  appear  again.)  And  von  Brincken 
paid  Van  Koolbergen  $200  in  bills,  and  asked  him 
to  come  to  the  consulate  for  the  balance  of  his 
fee. 

Franz  Bopp  was  skeptical.  For  some  reason 
he  mistrusted  Van  Koolbergen.  He  produced  a 
map  of  British  Columbia  and  asked  him  to  de- 
scribe what  he  had  accomplished.  Van  Kool- 
bergen, confused  for  a  moment,  suggested  that 
he  would  be  unwise  to  go  into  detail  before  three 
witnesses  (Bopp,  von  Brincken,  and  von  Schack, 
the  vice-consul).  Bopp  rose  indignantly  and 
said  that  his  secret  was  safe  with  three  who  had 
been  sworn  to  serve  the  Vaterland.  So  Van 
Koolbergen  invented  and  related  the  story  of  The 
Dynamiting  That  Never  Was,  supporting  it  with 
copies  of  the  Vancouver  newspapers.  Bopp 
wanted  more  proof;  at  Van  Koolbergen's  sug- 
gestion, he  wrote  one  Van  Roggenen,  the  Dutch 


Incendiarism  111 

vice-consul  at  Vancouver,  asking  him  to  "inquire 
of  the  General  Superintendent  of  the  Canadian 
Pacific  Railway  Company  why  a  car  of  freight 
which  I  expected  from  the  East  had  not  arrived 
yet,  and  to  kindly  wire  me  at  my  expense."  Van 
Roggenen  happened  to  be  a  friend  of  Van  Kool- 
bergen's,  and  of  course  any  inquiry  made  of  the 
railroad  for  Van  Koolbergen's  car  of  freight 
would  have  been  tactfully  construed  and  prop- 
erly answered.  But  to  make  assurance  doubly 
sure,  Van  Koolbergen  wired  Orchard  in  Van- 
couver to  send  him  the  following  telegram : 

"Superintendent  refuses  information.  Found  out 
however  that  freight  has  been  delayed  eleven  days  on 
account  of  accident.     Signed  V.  R." 

Armed  with  this  fictitious  reply,  which  Orchard 
soon  sent  him,  Van  Koolbergen  called  at  the  con- 
sulate, and  was  paid  $300  more  in  cash.  In  order 
to  get  as  much  money  as  possible  as  soon  as  possi- 
ble, the  ''destroying  agent"  agreed  to  cut  his  price 
from  $3,000  to  $1,750,  and  was  promised  tlie 
money  the  next  day.  The  next  day  came,  but  no 
money.  Van  Koolbergen  sent  a  sharp  note  to 
the  Consul,  suggesting  blackmail,  and  the  Ger- 
man Empire  in  San  Francisco  capitulated;  von 
Brincken  met  Van  Koolbergen  at  the  Palace  Hotel 
and  paid  him  $1,750,  (of  which  he  extracted  $250 


112     The  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

as  commission ! ) .  He  made  Koolbergen  sign  a  re- 
ceipt for  $700,  as  he  said  a  payment  of  $1,750 
would  look  bad  on  the  books,  was  much  too  high 
— even  seven  hundred  was  high,  but  could  be 
justified  if  any  one  higher  up  complained. 
"And,"  concluded  the  thrifty  Van  Koolbergen  in 
his  affidavit  written  August  27,  "I  have  some  of 
the  greenbacks  given  me  by  von  Brincken  now  in 
my  possession." 

The  San  Franciscan  participants  in  the  epi- 
sode were  finally  brought  to  justice.  Bopp, 
Baron  Eckhardt,  von  Schack,  Lieutenant  von 
Brincken,  Crowley,  and  Mrs.  Margaret  Cornell, 
Crowley's  secretar)^,  were  indicted,  tried,  and 
convicted.  The  men  received  sentences  of  two 
years  and  fines  of  $10,000  each ;  Mrs.  Cornell  was 
sentenced  to  a  year  and  a  day.  The  three  mem- 
bers of  the  consulate,  thanks  to  their  other  ac- 
tivities, involved  themselves  in  a  series  of  charges 
for  which  the  maximum  punishment  was  some- 
thing more  than  the  average  man's  lifetime  in 
prison.  Certain  of  their  adventures  will  appear 
in  other  phases  of  German  activity  to  be  dis- 
cussed. They  may  be  dismissed  here,  however, 
with  the  statement  that  the  California  consulate 
also  planned  the  destruction  of  munitions  plants 
at  y^Ltna,  Indiana,  and  at  Ishpeming,  Michigan. 

The  State  Department  released  on  October  10, 


Incendiarism  113 

191 7,  a  telegram  from  the  Foreign  Office  in  Ber- 
lin, addressed  to  Count  von  Bernstorff,  which 
established  beyond  question  the  chief's  familiar- 
ity with  these  operations,  and  more  especially 
the  continued  desire  of  the  Foreign  Office  to  in- 
terrupt transcontinental  shipping  in  Canada.  It 
is  dated  January  2,  19 16.     Its  text  follows : 

"Secret.  General  staff  desires  energetic  action  in  re- 
gard to  proposed  destruction  of  the  Canadian  Pacific 
Railroad  at  several  points,  with  a  view  to  complete  and 
protracted  interruption  of  traffic.  Captain  Boehm,  who 
is  known  on  your  side,  and  is  shortly  returning,  has  been 
given  instructions.  Inform  the  military  attache  and  pro- 
vide the  necessary  funds. 

"ZiMMERMANN." 

The  factory  explosions  continued.  The  Mid- 
vale  Steel  Company  suffered  incendiary  fires;  a 
Providence  warehouse  containing  a  consignment 
of  cotton  for  Russia  was  burned;  there  were  fires 
in  the  shell  plant  of  the  Brill  Car  Company,  in  the 
Southwark  Machinery  Company,  and  in  the  shell 
department  of  the  Diamond  Forge  and  Steel 
Company.  For  August  the  ghastly  recitation 
proceeds  somewhat  as  follows :  Bethlehem  Steel 
Company,  pov/der  flash,  ten  killed;  League  Island 
Navy  Yard,  Philadelphia,  fire  on  battleship  Ala- 
bama; Newport  News  Navy  Yard,  three  fires  in 
three  weeks.     In  September  an  explosion  in  the 


114     The  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

aeroplane  factory  of  the  Curtiss  plant  at  Depew, 
New  York,  a  German  suspected;  explosions  in 
the  shell  factory  of  the  National  Cable  and  Con- 
duit Company  at  Hastings,  New  York ;  an  explo- 
sion of  benzol  and  wax  in  the  plant  of  Smith  and 
Lenhart,  New  York,  in  which  two  people  were 
seriously  injured;  an  explosion  in  a  fireworks  fac- 
tory at  North  Bergen,  N.  J.,  in  which  two  people 
were  killed ;  an  explosion  which  cost  two  lives  in 
the  shell  factory  of  the  Westinghouse  Electric 
Company  at  Pittsburgh.  Scarcely  a  week  went 
by  during  the  autumn  without  an  explosion  and 
fire  which  wiped  out  from  one  to  a  dozen  lives, 
and  from  one  hundred  thousand  to  a  million  dol- 
lars. Munitions  plants  were  blown  to  atoms  in  a 
moment,  and  hardly  before  the  charred  ground 
had  cooled,  were  being  rebuilt,  for  the  guns  in 
France  were  hungry. 

Out  of  the  mass  of  munitions  accidents  in  the 
year  191 5  stands  sharp  and  clear  the  Bethlehem 
Steel  fire  of  November  10 — of  which  all  Ger- 
many had  had  warning,  and  on  which  the  Ger- 
man press  was  forbidden  to  comment — when  800 
big  guns  were  destroyed.  The  du  Pont  and 
yEtna  organizations  suffered  again  and  again ;  a 
chemical  plant  had  two  fires  which  cost  three- 
quarters  of  a  million  dollars;  two  explosions  in 
the  Tennessee  Coal  and  Iron  Works  at  Birming- 


Incendiarism  115 

ham,  Alabama,  did  considerable  property  dam- 
age, and  assisted  Germany  further  by  frighten- 
ing la])or  away  from  work.  Suspects  were  ar- 
rested here  and  there,  and  always  their  trails  led 
back  to  German  or  Austrian  nationality  or  sym- 
pathy. 

Their  chiefs  were  elusive.  Captain  von  Papen 
sauntered  out  of  the  Ritz-Carlton  into  Madison 
Avenue,  New  York,  one  afternoon.  He  idled 
down  to  Forty-second  Street,  and  paused,  as  if  un- 
decided where  to  promenade.  He  turned  east, 
walked  a  block,  and  turned  again  down  the  ramp 
into  the  Grand  Central  Station.  Quickening  his 
pace — he  had  only  a  minute  more — he  crossed  the 
great  waiting-room,  presented  a  ticket  at  the 
train  gate,  and  a  moment  later  was  in  the  Twen- 
tieth Century  Limited,  the  last  passenger  aboard. 
He  was  seen  next  day  in  Chicago.  And  for  a 
month  thereafter  he  was  completely  lost  to  the 
authorities,  while,  as  they  found  out  later,  he 
made  a  grand  tour  of  the  country,  going  first  to 
Yellowstone  Park,  then  down  the  Pacific  Coast 
to  Mexico,  where  he  joined  Boy-Ed,  and  finally 
returning  to  New  York  through  San  Francisco. 
He  had  ample  opportunity  to  confer  with  his  con- 
sular deputies,  and  his  destroying  agents.  In 
August  a  train  loaded  with  7,000  pounds  of  dyna- 
mite from  the  du  Pont  works  at  Pinole,  Cali- 


116    The  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

fornia,  was  destroyed;  in  the  evidence  against 
von  Papen  is  this  letter  concerning  the  price  to 
be  paid  for  the  Pinole  job : 

"Dear  S. :  Your  last  letter  with  clipping  today,  and 
note  what  you  have  to  say.  I  have  taken  it  up  with  them 
and  'B'  "  (who  was  Franz  Bopp)  "is  awaiting  decision 
of  'P'  "  (who  was  von  Papen)  "in  New  York,  so  cannot 
advise  you  yet,  and  will  do  so  as  soon  as  I  get  word 
from  you.  You  might  size  up  the  situation  in  the  mean- 
time." 

Glancing  back  over  the  record  o£  191 5 — which 
was  hardly  mitigated  in  the  succeeding  years  of 
war — one  is  inclined  to  marvel  at  the  hardy 
perennial  pose  of  the  deported  attache,  who  said 
as  he  left  the  United  States : 

"I  leave  my  post  without  any  feeling  of  bitterness,, 
because  I  know  that  when  history  is  once  written,  it  will 
establish  our  clean  record  despite  all  the  misrepresenta- 
tions and  calumnies  spread  broadcast  at  present." 


CHAPTER  IX 

MORE   BOMB    PLOTS 

Kaltschmidt  and  the  Windsor  explosions — The  Port 
Huron  tunnel — Werner  Horn — Explosions  embarrass  the 
Embassy — Black  Tom — The  second  Welland  affair — 
Harry  Newton — The  damage  done  in  three  years — 
Waiter  spies. 

In  the  check-l3ook  of  the  military  attache  was 
a  counterfoil  betraying  a  payment  of  $i,ooo  made 
on  March  2y,  191 5,  to  "W.  von  Igel  (for  A. 
Kaltschmidt,  Detroit)."  That  stub  was  part  of 
a  bomb  plot. 

A  young  German  named  Charles  Francis  Respa 
was  employed  in  1908  by  Albert  Carl  Kaltschmidt 
in  a  Detroit  machine  shop.  Seven  years  later 
Kaltschmidt  had  occasion  to  hire  Respa  again. 
To  a  group  which  included  Respa,  his  brother- 
in-law  Carl  Schmidt,  Gus  ;Stevens  and  Kalt- 
schmidt's  own  brother-in-law,  Fritz  Neef,  he  out- 
lined a  plan  for  destroying  factories  in  Canada. 
Neef  was  the  Detroit  agent  for  the  Eisemann 
magneto,  and  had  a  machine  shop  of  his  own. 

"We  are  not  citizens  of  this  country,"  Kalt- 
117 


118     The  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

Schmidt  reiterated  to  his  accomplices.  "It  is  our 
duty  to  stand  by  the  Fatherland.  The  Americans 
would  throw  us  out  of  work  after  war  started." 
(The  Americans,  on  the  contrary,  gave  the  ring- 
leaders of  the  conspiracy  plenty  of  hard  labor 
after  the  war  started.)  To  seal  the  bargain 
Kaltschmidt  paid  the  men  a  retainer,  and  sent 
Stevens  and  Respa  to  Winnipeg  to  see  whether 
it  might  not  be  feasible  to  blow  up  the  railroad 
bridge  there. 

Respa  reported  back.  His  next  assignment 
was  to  go  to  Port  Huron  and  determine  whether 
enough  dynamite  might  be  attached  to  the  rear 
of  a  passenger  train  bound  through  the  interna- 
tional tunnel  under  the  St.  Clair  River  to  de- 
stroy the  tube.  Respa  came  to  the  conclusion 
that  it  was  not  practicable,  for  the  authorities 
were  taking  precautions  against  just  such  an 
operation.  Respa  and  Stevens  were  then  des- 
patched to  Duluth,  where  they  met  Schmidt  and 
a  fourth  member  of  the  group,  each  carrying  a 
suitcase  containing  numerous  sticks  of  dynamite, 
and  the  quartette  returned  with  its  explosives  to 
Detroit. 

Kaltschmidt  then  hired  him  for  $i8  a  week. 
Respa  had  left  Germany  before  his  term  of  mili- 
tary service  came  due;  Kaltschmidt  used  this  in- 
formation as  a  club  over  his  head,  for  he  knew 


More  Bomb  Plots  119 

the  young  man  could  not  return  to  the  Father- 
land. On  June  21  Kaltschmidt  called  Respa  to 
his  office  in  the  Kresge  Building,  and  showed  him 
two  elaborate  time-clock  devices  which  could  be 
so  set  as  to  fire  bombs  at  any  specified  hour,  and 
Respa,  at  Kaltschmidt's  command,  carried  the 
clocks  across  the  Detroit  River  to  Windsor,  On- 
tario, late  that  afternoon.  His  sister,  Mrs. 
Schmidt,  went  with  him,  and  together  they  wan- 
dered about  until  the  hour  when  they  knew  that 
William  Lefler,  the  night  watchman  of  the  Pea- 
body  Overall  Company  factory  in  Walkerville, 
would  go  on  duty. 

Under  cover  of  darkness,  the  brother  and  sis- 
ter met  Lefler,  who  gave  Respa  tv/o  suitcases  full 
of  dynamite  which  Kaltschmidt  had  smuggled 
piecemeal  into  Canada  under  the  front  seat  of 
his  automobile.  Respa  attached  the  clocks  to  the 
charges,  set  one  of  the  infernal  machines  near 
the  factory,  and  planted  the  other  in  the  rear  of 
the  Windsor  armory,  in  which  Canadian  troops 
were  asleep,  and  near  which  was  a  Catholic  girls' 
school.  Then  he  and  Mrs.  Schmidt  scurried 
back  to  the  ferry  and  took  the  last  boat  to  Detroit. 
At  three  o'clock  in  the  morning  they  heard  a 
mufiflled  roar  from  the  Canadian  side ;  the  factory 
bomb  had  "^one  off.     The  other  charsre  failed  to 

o  o 

explode :     Respa  said  he  deliberately  set  the  per- 


120     The  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

cussion  cap  at  the  wrong  angle,  because  he  knew 
that  soldiers  were  sleeping  in  the  armory,  and 
he  had  no  stomach  for  murder. 

One  of  the  gang  was  presently  arrested,  and 
Respa  w^as  spirited  away  to  the  retirement  of  a 
mechanic's  job  in  a  West  Hoboken  garage.  But 
he  grew  restless,  and  spent  his  money,  and  Kalt- 
schmidt  refused  him  more.  He  pawned  his 
watch  and  his  ring,  bought  a  ticket  to  Detroit, 
and  presented  himself  before  Kaltschmidt  with 
a  demand  for  money,  in  default  of  which  Respa 
proposed  to  "squeal."  He  was  immediately  re- 
turned to  the  payroll. 

The  Canadian  provincial  detectives  had  be- 
gun to  search  for  the  night  watchman,  Lefler. 
They  found  him,  and  from  him  they  extracted  a 
full  confession.  Respa's  arrest  was  easy,  and 
the  United  States  willingly  returned  him,  al- 
though Kaltschmidt  did  attempt  to  establish  a 
false  alibi  for  his  underling.  Respa  was  sen- 
tenced to  life  imprisonment,  Lefler  to  ten  years, 
for  the  destruction  of  the  factory. 

The  dragnet  closed  in  on  Kaltschmidt.  Wil- 
liam M.  Jarosch,  a  German-born,  who  later  en- 
listed in  the  United  States  Army,  had  been  intro- 
duced to  Kaltschmidt  in  Chicago  in  191 5  by  a 
former  German  consul  there,  Gustav  Jacobsen. 
Jacobsen   recruited  two  other  men,   and   Kalt- 


More  Bomb  Plots  121 

Schmidt  took  the  three  to  Detroit.  Jarosch  was 
directed  to  secure  employment  at  the  plant  of  the 
Detroit  Screw  Works,  but  he  was  rejected,  so 
Kahschmidt  told  him  to  watch  the  plant  for  a 
good  opportunity  to  set  a  bomb  there.  In  the 
course  of  his  sojourn  in  Detroit  he  went  to  the 
Respa  home  in  the  placid  little  village  of  Romeo 
and  returned  with  a  generous  quantity  of  dyna- 
mite. This  he  delivered  to  Neef,  and  in  a  con- 
ference at  the  magneto  shop  Kaltschmidt  ex- 
plained the  operation  of  the  time-clock,  and  or- 
dered Jarosch  to  set  the  device  at  the  Detroit 
Screw  factory  that  night.  He  and  his  Chicago 
confederates  set  out  for  the  scene,  but  there  were 
guards  about,  and  Jarosch  had  no  desire  for  ar- 
rest, so  he  took  the  bomb  to  his  hotel  room,  dis- 
engaged the  trigger,  and  calmly  went  to  sleep. 
Next  morning  Kaltschmidt  reproached  him,  and 
Jarosch  resigned,  to  return  months  later  to  show 
Federal  officers  where  he  had  buried  some  80 
pounds  of  dynamite,  nitroglycerine,  and  a  bomb. 
Kaltschmidt  also  conspired  to  destroy  the  Port 
Huron  tunnel.  For  this  enterprise  he  contrived 
a  car  which  he  proposed  to  load  with  dynamite 
set  to  explode  with  a  time  fuse.  Fritz  Neef,  the 
Stuttgart  graduate  and  expert  mechanical  en- 
gineer, was  his  able  assistant  and  adviser  in  this 
project.     The    car    was    of    standard    railway 


122     The  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

gauge.  It  was  to  be  set  on  the  Grand  Trunk 
tracks  at  the  mouth  of  the  Port  Huron  end  of 
the  tunnel  and  released,  to  roll  down  into  the 
darkness  under  the  river.  At  the  low  point  in 
the  tunnel's  curve  the  charge  would  explode, 
bursting  the  walls  of  the  tube,  and  completely  in- 
terrupting the  heavy  international  freight  traffic 
at  that  point. 

The  "devil  car"  never  was  released.  Kalt- 
schmidt  was  arrested,  and  finally,  in  December, 
191 7,  tried  and  convicted  on  three  counts.  He 
was  given  the  maximum  sentence,  of  four  years' 
imprisonment  and  $20,000  fine.  His  sister,  Mrs. 
Neef,  who  had  been  an  active  intermediary,  was 
sentenced  to  three  years'  imprisonment  and  was 
fined  $15,000;  Carl  Schmidt  and  his  wife  were 
each  condemned  to  two  years  in  prison,  and  as- 
sessed a  fine  of  $10,000  each,  and  only  old  Franz 
Respa,  the  father  of  the  dynamiter,  was  ac- 
quitted. 

The  activities  of  this  group  received  tangible 
approval  from  the  German  Embassy.  Even  be- 
fore von  Papen  drew  the  check  on  March  27  for 
Kaltschmidt,  the  attache's  secretary,  von  Igel, 
had  transferred  $2,000  to  the  Detroit  German 
from  the  banking  firm  of  Knauth,  Nachod 
and  Kuhne  (January  23).  On  October  5,  long 
after  the  Walkerville  explosion,  but  while  the 


3Iore  Bomb  Plots  123 

Port  Huron  venture  was  still  a  possibility,  the 
Chase  National  Bank  of  New  York  transferred 
to  Knauth,  Nachod  and  Kuhne  $25,000  from  the 
joint  account  maintained  there  by  Count  von 
Bernstorff  and  Dr.  Albert,  and  next  day  the 
money  was  placed  to  Kaltschmidt's  credit. 

The  Port  Huron  tunnel  was  the  object  of  Ger- 
man attentions  from  the  active  San  Francisco 
consulate.  Crowley,  who  had  been  von  Brinck- 
en's  messenger  in  the  Van  Koolbergen  affair,  and 
one  Louis  J.  Smith,  were  hired  by  Herr  Bopp 
to  go  east  on  a  destroying  mission.  They  ran 
out  of  money  in  New  York,  and  called  at  the  New 
York  consulate  for  assistance.  They  were  told 
that  the  New  York  consulate  had  nothing  to  do 
with  Pacific  coast  activities,  so  they  wired  von 
Schack  for  funds.  He  replied,  chiding  them  for 
not  having  called  on  von  Papen. 

Late  in  June  Smith  left  New  York  and  joined 
Crowley  at  the  Normandy  Hotel  in  Detroit. 
"Then  we  went  to  Port  Huron,"  he  said,  "where 
we  planned  to  dynamite  a  railroad  tunnel  and  a 
horse  train.     We  didn't  do  it,  though. 

"Then  we  went  to  Toronto,  and  Crowley  told 
me  to  plant  a  bomb  under  a  horse  train  in  the 
West  Toronto  yards.  But  I  saw  a  policeman, 
and  I  got  out  quick.  Then  we  took  some  nitro- 
glycerine, cotton,  sawdust,  and  a  tin  pan  and 


124     The  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

some  other  things  to  Grosse  Isle,  Ontario,  and 
went  out  back  of  a  cemetery  and  made  some 
bombs. 

''Well,  we  got  back  to  San  Francisco  late  in 
July,  and  Crowley  and  I  cooked  up  an  expense 
account  of  $1,254.80,  and  took  if  up  to  the  con- 
sulate. Von  Schack  locked  the  door  behind  us, 
and  then  he  said:  'I  don't  want  any  statement. 
Tell  me  how  much  you  want  ?'  We  told  him,  and 
he  said  he  would  get  it  the  following  day.  Then 
all  of  a  sudden  he  asked :  'How  do  I  know  you 
fellows  did  any  jobs  in  Canada?' 

"  'Wire  the  mayor  of  Toronto  and  ask  him !' 
Crowley  answered." 

On  one  occasion  at  least  the  Germans  respected 
American  property,  for  the  protection  America 
might  afford.  Werner  Horn,  a  former  lieuten- 
ant in  the  Landwehr,  was  in  Guatemala  when 
the  war  broke  out.  He  made  an  attempt  to  re- 
turn to  his  command,  but  got  no  farther  than 
New  York,  where  he  placed  himself  at  the  dis- 
posal of  Captain  von  Papen.  On  January  18  the 
military  attache  paid  him  $700.  On  February 
2  Horn  exploded  a  charge  of  dynamite  on  the 
Canadian  end  of  the  international  bridge  at 
Vanceboro,  Maine,  spanning  the  St.  Croix  River 
to  New  Brunswick.  The  explosion  caused  a 
slisfht  damaofe  to  the  Canadian  half  of  the  bridsre. 


More  Bomb  Plots  125 

A  few  hours  later  Horn  was  arrested  in  Vance- 
boro,  and  admitted  the  crime. 

When  the  Canadian  authorities  appHed  for  his 
extradition,  the  warrant  which  Judge  Hale  issued 
was  not  executed,  the  United  States  Marshal  for 
Maine  having  received  word  from  Washington 
that  a  well-preserved  treaty  between  Great  Brit- 
ain and  the  United  States  would  cover  just  such 
a  case,  and  Horn  was  indicted  on  a  charge  of 
having  transported  explosives  from  New  York 
City  to  Vanceboro.  His  attorneys  naively  at- 
tempted to  secure  his  liberty  by  casting  a  pro- 
tective mantle  of  international  law  about  his 
shoulders :  Werner  Horn,  they  said,  was  a  First 
Lieutenant  of  the  West  Prussian  Pioneer  Bat- 
talion Number  17,  and  as  such  was  sworn  by  His 
Royal  Majesty  of  Prussia  to 

".  .  .  discharge  the  obligations  of  his  office  in  a  becom- 
ing manner,  .  .  .  execute  diligently  and  loyally  whatever 
is  made  his  duty  to  do  and  carry  out,  and  whatever  is 
commanded  him,  by  day  and  by  night,  on  land  and  on  sea, 
and  .  .  .  conduct  himself  bravely  and  irreproachably  in 
all  wars  and  military  events  that  may  occur  ..." 

Yet  he  was  tried,  and  that  without  much  delay, 
and  convicted,  and  sentenced  to  imprisonment. 

Although  the  destruction  of  railways  was  an 
attractive  means  of  stopping  the  progress  of  mu- 
nitions to  the  seaboard,  and  although  it  was  a 


126     The  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

recognized  practice  during  191 5,  it  made  the  Em- 
bassy at  Washington  uneasy.  Bernstorff  pro- 
tested to  the  Foreign  Office  in  BerHn  that  if  a 
German  agent  should  be  caught  in  the  act  of 
dynamiting  a  raih'oad  it  would  be  exceedingly 
embarrassing  for  him,  and  increase  the  difficulties 
of  his  already  ticklish  role  of  apologist  and  ex- 
plainer-extraordinary. The  Foreign  Office  ac- 
cordingly sent  a  telegram  to  von  Papen : 

"January  26 — For  Military  Attache.  ,  .  .  Railway  em- 
bankments and  bridges  must  not  be  touched.  Embassy 
must  in  no  circumstances  be  compromised." 

(Signed)  "Representative  of  General  Staff." 

And  thereafter  American  railway  bridges  and 
embankments  were  safe,  though  their  owners 
may  not  have  been  aware  of  the  fact  at  the 
time. 

It  is  no  mere  metaphor  to  say  that  during  191 5 
and  1 91 6  the  smoke  of  German  explosions  in  fac- 
tories in  the  United  States  was  spreading  across 
the  sun,  casting  the  deepening  shadow  of  war 
over  America.  There  was  dynamite  found  in 
the  coal  tender  of  a  munitions  train  on  the  Bal- 
timore and  Ohio  Railroad  at  Gallery  Junction, 
Pa.,  on  December  10,  1915,  the  day  on  which 
enormous  quantities  of  wheat  were  destroyed  by 
fire  in  grain  elevators  at  Erie.     A  few  hours 


More  Bomb  Plots  127 

earlier  a  two-million-dollar  explosion  had  oc- 
curred at  the  Hopewell  plant  of  the  du  Pont 
works.  Shortly  before  Christmas  a  ton  and  a 
half  of  nitrogl3^cerine  exploded  at  Fayville,  Illi- 
nois. 

During  191 6  there  were  a  dozen  major  explo- 
sions in  the  du  Pont  properties  alone  and  liter- 
ally dozens  of  lives  were  lost.  Two  arms  plants 
at  Bridgeport,  Conn.,  were  blown  up.  An  ex- 
plosion in  May  wiped  out  a  large  chemical  plant 
in  Cadillac,  Michigan.  A  munitions  works  of 
the  Bethlehem  Steel  Company  at  Newcastle,  Pa., 
was  destroyed.  The  climax  in  violence  came, 
however,  in  the  sultry  night  of  August  1-2. 
Shortly  after  midnight  the  rocky  island  of  Man- 
hattan trembled,  and  the  roar  of  a  prodigious 
blast  burst  over  the  harbor  of  New  York.  Two 
million  pounds  of  munitions  were  being  trans- 
ported in  freight  trains  and  on  barges  near  the 
island  of  Black  Tom,  a  few  hundred  yards  from 
the  Bartholdi  Statue  of  Liberty.  Some  one, 
somehow,  supplied  the  spark.  The  loss  of  life 
was  inconsiderable,  for  that  neighborhood  was 
not  inhabited,  but  the  confusion  was  complete. 
Heavy  windows  in  the  canyons  of  lower  Manhat- 
tan were  shivered,  and  for  a  few  moments  many 
of  the  streets  rained  broken  glass.  Shell-laden 
barges  near  the  original  explosion  set  up  a  scat- 


128     The  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

tering  fire  which  continued  for  some  time,  most 
of  the  projectiles  losing  their  power  through  lack 
of  a  substantial  breech-block.  But  the  immigra- 
tion station  on  Ellis  Island  was  in  panic,  and  its 
position  became  more  unpleasant  as  one  of  the 
blazing  barges  drifted  down  upon  it.  The  shock 
was  felt  far  out  in  Jersey,  and  northward  in  Con- 
necticut. An  estimate  of  damage  was  placed  at 
thirty  millions  of  dollars,  probably  as  accurate 
as  such  an  estimate  need  be;  the  event  was  ut- 
terly spectacular,  and  from  the  point  of  view  of 
the  unknown  destroying  agent,  effective. 

Exactly  one  year  after  von  Papen  gave  up  the 
first  attempt  upon  the  Welland  Canal,  a  second 
enterprise  began  with  the  same  objective.  Cap- 
tain von  Papen  felt  that  von  dcr  Goltz  had  bun- 
gled. This  time  he  intrusted  the  mission  to  the 
doughty  and  usually  reliable  Paul  Koenig.  On 
September  27,  191 5,  Koenig,  with  Richard  Emil 
Leyendecker,  a  "hyphenated  American"  who  dealt 
during  the  daytime  in  art  woods  at  347  Fifth 
Avenue,  New  York,  and  Fred  Metzler,  of  Jersey 
City,  Koenig's  secretary,  went  to  Buffalo  and 
Niagara  Falls,  accompanied  by  Mrs.  Koenig. 
They  had  no  trouble  in  crossing  the  border  and 
making  a  thorough  investigation  of  the  canal,  its 
vulnerable  points,  its  guards  and  the  patrol  routes 
of  those  guards.     Koenig  selected  men  whom  he 


More  Bomb  Plots  129 

detailed  to  watch  the  guards,  and  he  fixed  on  sat- 
isfactory storage  places  for  his  explosives.  The 
party  then  returned  to  Niagara  Falls  and  later 
to  New  York. 

They  did  not  know  that  they  were  being  trailed. 
All  three  men  had  been  under  surveillance  for 
nearly  a  year,  and  after  their  migrations  near  the 
canal,  the  guard  was  reenforced.  It  became  im- 
possible to  carry  out  the  plan.  A  few  weeks  later 
the  detectives  who  were  shadowing  Koenig  no- 
ticed that  George  Fuchs,  a  relative  whom  he  em- 
ployed at  a  meagre  salary,  was  seldom  seen  in 
his  company.  They  sought  Fuchs  out  and  plied 
him  with  refreshment.  A  few  glasses  of  beer 
drew  out  his  story:  Koenig  owed  him  $15,  and 
he  therefore  bore  no  affection  for  Koenig.  The 
detectives  turned  him  over  to  Superintendent  Off- 
ley  of  the  Department  of  Justice,  who  sympa- 
thized with  Fuchs  to  such  an  extent  that  the  lat- 
ter retailed  enough  evidence  of  the  Welland  plot 
to  secure  Koenig's  indictment  on  five  counts. 
Thus  did  a  debt  of  thirty  pieces  of  silver — in  this 
case  half-dollars — rob  the  Hamburg-American 
Line  of  a  six-foot,  200-pound  detective,  and  the 
German  spy  system  in  America  of  one  of  its 
roughest  characters,  for,  thanks  to  Fuchs'  revela- 
tions, Koenig  was  indicted  for  a  violation  of  Sec- 
tion 13  of  the  Penal  Code. 


130     The  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

Herald  Square,  New  York,  was  the  center  of 
open-air  oratory  every  evening  until  after  Amer- 
ica entered  the  war.  Those  who  had  stood  and 
fought  their  verbal  battles  during  the  day  about 
the  bulletin  board  of  the  Nezv  York  Herald  re- 
mained at  night  to  bellow  to  the  idle  passersby 
along  Broadway,  and  one  night  Felix  Galley,  a 
leather-lunged  contractor,  gave  an  impassioned 
discourse  justifying  Germany's  entrance  into  the 
war.  When  the  meeting  broke  up  he  was  fol- 
lowed home  by  one  who  rather  passed  his  ex- 
pectations as  a  convert. 

The  stranger  was  Harry  Newton.  He  had 
been  employed  in  a  munitions  plant  in  St.  Cath- 
arine's, Ontario.  He  suggested  to  Galley  that  he 
would  take  any  orders  for  arson  which  the  Ger- 
mans had  in  mind,  and  recommended  that  as  proof 
of  his  ability  he  would  oblige  with  a  dynamiting 
of  the  Brooks  Locomotive  Works  at  Dunkirk, 
N.  Y.,  for  a  retainer  of  $5,000.  Or,  he  said,  he 
could  arrange  to  destroy  the  Federal  building  or 
Police  Headquarters.  This  was  more  than  the 
German  had  bargained  for,  and  assuring  Newton 
that  he  would  first  have  to  consult  the  ''chief,"  he 
ran  straightway  to  the  police  and  in  great  agita- 
tion told  what  had  happened.  Captain  Tunney, 
of  the  Bomb  Squad,  assigned  Detective  Sergeant 
George  Barnitz  to  the  case. 


More  Bomb  Plots  131 

The  detective,  posing  as  a  German  agent, 
found  Newton  at  Mills  Hotel  No.  3,  and  opened 
negotiations  with  him.  After  several  talks,  they 
met  on  the  afternoon  of  April  19,  1916,  at  Grand 
Street  and  the  Bowery.  Barnitz  said:  "Now, 
I'm  in  a  hurry — haven't  much  time  to  discuss  all 
this.  You  say  you're  in  the  business  strictly  for 
the  money.  The  chief  is  willing  to  pay  you 
$5,000  if  you  will  smash  the  Welland  Canal  or 
blow  up  the  Brooks  Locomotive  Works  or  burn 
the  McKinnon,  Dash  Company's  plant  at  St. 
Catharine's.  But  how  do  we  know  you  won't  de- 
mand more  from  us  after  you  are  paid?  Maybe 
you'll  want  more  cash  for  your  assistants." 

Newton  was  quick  to  reply  that  he  worked 
alone  and  wouldn't  trust  any  assistant.  He  was 
anxious  to  start  with  the  Brooks  ''job"  at  Dun- 
kirk and  told  Barnitz  he  had  left  in  the  baggage- 
room  of  the  New  York  Central  Railroad  at  Buf- 
falo a  suitcase  containing  powerful  bombs.  (The 
suitcase  actually  contained  a  loaded  4-inch  shell, 
with  percussion  cap  and  fuse.)  It  would  be  nec- 
essary only  for  him  to  go  to  Buffalo,  get  the  suit- 
case, hasten  to  Dunkirk  and  blow  up  the  locomo- 
tive works. 

"Fine,"  said  Barnitz.     "You  are  under  arrest." 

Newton  stared  a  moment,  then  laughed.  "You 
New  York  cops  are  a  damned  sight  smarter  than 


132     The  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

I  ever  thought  you  were,"  he  said,  "and  you  made 
me  think  you  were  a  German!" 

At  Pohce  Headquarters  he  described  his  plan 
for  blowing  up  the  Welland  Canal.  Having 
worked  in  a  town  located  on  the  canal,  he  was 
familiar  with  the  position  of  the  locks.  "It  would 
be  a  simple  matter,"  he  said.  "You  see  these 
buttons  I  am  wearing  on  my  watch  chain  and  in 
my  coat  lapel.  The  plain  gilt  one  reads  'On  His 
Majesty's  Service.'  The  blue  and  white  one 
reads  'McKinnon,  Dash  Company,  Munitions. 
On  Service.'  Those  buttons  are  passes  that 
would  let  me  into  any  munitions  plant  in  Canada 
or  this  country.  They  would  pass  me  through 
the  guards  of  the  canal.  It  would  be  easy  for  me 
to  pretend  to  be  a  workman,  get  a  boat  and,  car- 
rying a  dinner  pail,  filled  with  explosives,  to  pick 
out  a  weak  spot  in  the  canal  works  and  destroy 
the  whole  business. 

"It  would  be  a  cinch  to  burn  the  McKinnon, 
Dash  plant.  I  could  go  back  to  work  there  as 
foreman.  Any  Saturday  night  I  could  be  the  last 
to  leave.  Before  going  I  could  saturate  flooring 
with  benzine  and  put  a  lighted  candle  where 
within  a  half  hour  or  so  the  flame  would  reach 
the  benzine." 

Newton  also  suggested  his  willingness  to  dyna- 
mite the  banking  house  of  J.  P.  Morgan  &  Co., 


More  Bomb  Plots  133 

at  27,  Wall  Street,  or  to  dynamite  the  banker's 
automobile.  He  had  a  series  of  postcards  in  his 
own  handwriting,  which,  in  case  he  was  hired 
for  a  dynamiting,  were  to  be  mailed  from  distant 
points  every  day  while  he  was  on  the  assignment, 
in  order  to  establish  an  alibi. 

He  was  an  irresponsible  person,  and  one  who 
could  not  be  said  to  be  under  orders  from  the 
attaches  in  lower  Broadway.  Yet  he  is  typical 
of  the  restless  and  lawless  floating  population  of 
which  the  Germans  made  excellent  tools.  When 
he  heard  Galley  he  promptly  offered  his  services ; 
his  boldness  would  have  made  him  a  capital  de- 
stroying agent,  and  it  was  fired  by  the  speech  in 
Herald  Square,  a  speech  inspired  from  Berlin. 
Here  was  his  opportunity  to  make  money.  Thus, 
by  a  word  of  encouragement,  by  the  whisper  of 
"big  money"  to  discharged,  dissatisfied  or  dis- 
loyal employees  of  munitions  plants,  the  seed  of 
German  violence  was  sown  everywhere.  Men 
who  were  well  dressed  and  of  good  appearance 
would  be  remarked  if  they  prowled  about  fac- 
tory districts ;  men  must  be  employed  who  would 
fade  into  the  drab  landscape  by  the  very  common- 
placeness  of  their  clothing  and  action.  They 
could  be  hired  cheaply  and  swiftly  disowned, 
these  Newtons! 

The  New  York  Times  on  November  3,  19 17, 


134     The  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

recapitulated  the  damage  wrought  by  German 
incendiarism  as  follows: 

''A  graphic  idea  of  what  the  fire  losses  in  the 
.  United  States  owe  to  the  work  of  war  incendia- 
ries may  be  gained  from  consideration  of  the  fact 
that  the  total  fire  insurance  paid  in  the  United 
States  in  1915,  according  to  the  figures  of  the 
National  Board  of  Fire  Underwriters,  was 
$153,000,000.  It  is  estimated  that  60  per  cent, 
of  the  loss  by  fires  in  this  country  is  represented 
in  insurance.  Therefore,  the  total  fire  loss  in  the 
United  States  in  191 5  was  something  over  $200,- 
000,000.  Of  the  $1 53,000,000  paid  out  by  the  in- 
surance companies,  $6,200,000  was  represented 
by  incendiary  fires.  A  total  of  $62,000,000  was 
charged  to  fires  from  unknown  causes. 

"In  191 6  the  total  jumped  by  20  per  cent., 
meaning  an  increase  of  about  $40,000,000.  The 
biggest  items  in  this  loss  were  those  sustained  in 
munition  fires  and  explosions.  Black  Tom  holds 
the  record  with  a  loss  of  $11,000,000;  there  was 
the  Kingsland  explosion,  the  Penn's  Grove  explo- 
sion, and  others,  all  generally  admitted  to  be  the 
work  of  spies,  which  caused  losses  running  into 
millions. 

'Tt  was  estimated  yesterday  by  an  insurance 
official  that  the  incendiary  loss  in  1916  was  easily 
$25,000,000,  or  $15,000,000  above  normal.     And 


More  Bomh  Plots  135 

these  figures  take  into  consideration  only  fires 
where  the  origin  was  proved  to  be  incendiary. 
On  the  books  of  the  underwriters  the  Black  Tom 
munitions  fire  is  not  listed  as  incendiary,  because 
it  was  never  legally  proved  that  a  German  spy  set 
it  going. 

"This  increase  in  losses  for  191 6  when  the  big 
munition  explosions  occurred,  derives  significance 
in  the  discussion  of  losses  by  spy  fires  since  this 
country  entered  the  war,  because  the  figures  of 
fire  losses  in  the  United  States  for  191 7  may  reach 
$300,000,000,  or  a  larger  increase  over  19 16  than 
191 6  losses  showed  over  191 5.  An  estimate 
made  yesterday  by  the  head  of  a  fire  insurance 
company  shows  that  if  the  average  of  the  losses 
in  the  first  seven  months  of  the  year  is  maintained 
until  Jan.  i  the  total  would  reach  well  above 
$250,000,000,  and  with  the  increases  of  the  past 
few  months  might  easily  total  $300,000,000  as 
the  cost  of  the  American  ash  heaps  for  1917." 

How  did  the  Germans  know  where  munitions 
were  being  manufactured?  Rumor  fled  swiftly 
through  the  labor  districts,  and  the  news  was  re- 
ported through  the  regular  channels  of  espionage, 
cleared  through  the  consulates  and  German  busi- 
ness ofiices,  and  forwarded  to  the  attaches  and 
the  Embassy.  But  the  collection  of  information 
did  not  stop  there;  it  was  verified  from  another 


136     The  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

source — a  serviceable  factor  in  the  general  system 
of  espionage. 

The  American  manufacturer  shared  his  na- 
tion's predilection  for  talking  at  meal-time.  As 
the  war  contracts  were  distributed  about  the  coun- 
try, every  machine  shop  worthy  of  the  name  be- 
came a  "munitions  plant"  and  the  romance  of  hav- 
ing a  part  in  the  war  strained  the  discretion  of 
most  of  America's  war  bridegrooms ;  they  simply 
"had  to  tell  some  one" ;  not  infrequently  this  some 
one  was  a  reliable  intimate,  sitting  across  a  res- 
taurant table  at  lunch. 

There  was  in  America  an  organization  bearing 
a  title  which  suggested  a  neutral  origin,  but 
whose  officers'  names,  down  even  unto  the  official 
physician,  were  undeniably  German.  It  was 
ostensibly  for  the  mutual  benefit  of  the  foreign- 
born  waiters,  chefs  and  pantrymen  who  com- 
posed its  membership.  But  its  real  significance 
was  indicated  by  the  location  of  its  branches  (its 
headquarters  were  in  New  York).  Trenton, 
New  Jersey,  for  example,  was  not  a  "good  hotel 
town,"  and  foreign  waiters  usually  are  to  be 
found  in  a  town  which  boasts  a  hotel  managed 
by  metropolitan  interests,  and  supplied  with  a  for- 
eign staff;  but  Trenton  was  a  munitions  center, 
and  there  was  a  branch  of  this  association  there. 
Schenectady,  the  home  of  the  General  Electric 


3Iore  Bomb  Plots  137 

Company,  had  no  first-class  hotel;  there  was  a 
branch  of  the  association  in  Schenectady.  Con- 
versely, numerous  cities  whose  hotels  were 
manned  by  foreign  waiters  and  cooks  had  no 
branches.  The  organization  was  founded  in 
Dresden  in  1877. 

Many  a  confidence  passed  across  a  table  was 
intercepted  by  the  acute  ears  of  a  German  spy. 
Members  of  the  Anglo-French  Loan  Commission 
who  were  staying  at  the  Biltmore  in  1914  were 
served  by  a  German  agent  in  a  waiter's  uniform. 
It  would  have  gone  well  for  America  and  the 
preparations  of  supplies  for  her  later  Allies  if 
there  had  been  posted  in  every  hotel  dining-room 
the  French  admonition, 

"Taisez-vous !     lis  s'ecoutent!" 


CHAPTER  X 

FRANZ   VON    RINTELEN 

The  leak  in  the  National  City  Bank — The  Minnehaha 
— Von  Rintelen's  training — His  return  to  America — His 
aims — His  funds — Smuggling  oil — The  Krag-Joergensen 
rifles — Von  Rintelen's  flight  and  capture. 

There  was  a  suggestion  in  the  newspapers  of 
dates  immediately  following  Paul  Koenig's  arrest 
that  the  authorities  had  been  lax  in  allowing  the 
Germans  to  have  later  access  to  the  safe  in  his 
private  office  in  the  Hamburg- American  building. 
As  a  matter  of  fact  the  contents  of  the  safe  were 
well  known  to  the  authorities — how,  it  is  not  nec- 
essary to  say.  The  multitudinous  notes  and  ref- 
erence data  kept  by  the  industrious  'T.  K."  un- 
covered a  plentiful  German  source  of  information 
of  munitions. 

They  knew  the  factories  in  which  war  materials 
were  being  turned  out.  They  knew  the  numbers 
of  the  freight  cars  into  which  the  materials  were 
loaded  for  shipment  to  the  waterfronts.  They 
knew  the  ships  into  which  those  cargoes  were 
consigned.     How   they  knew   was   revealed  by 

138 


Franz  Von  Rintelen  139 

Koenig's  secretary,  Metzler,  after  he  had  been 
arrested  in  the  second  Welland  episode. 

Down  in  Wall  Street,  in  the  foreign  depart- 
ment of  the  National  City  Bank,  there  was  a 
young-  German  named  Frederick  Schleindl.  He 
had  been  in  the  United  States  for  several  years, 
and  had  been  employed  by  various  bankers,  one 
of  whom  recommended  him  to  the  National  City 
Bank  shortly  after  the  outbreak  of  war.  In  the 
foreign  department  he  had  access  to  cables  from 
the  Allies  concerning  the  purchase  of  munitions. 
It  was  customary  to  pay  manufacturers  for  their 
completed  orders  when  the  bank  received  a  bill  of 
lading  showing  their  shipment  by  railroad  or 
their  delivery  at  points  of  departure.  Close 
familiarity  with  such  bills  of  lading  and  cable- 
grams gave  Schleindl  an  up-to-the-minute  survey 
of  the  production  of  supplies. 

In  late  1914  Schleindl  registered  with  the  Ger- 
man consul  in  New  York,  setting  down  his  name 
and  address  as  liable  to  call  for  special  service. 
In  May,  191 5,  he  was  directed  by  the  consul  to 
meet  a  certain  person  at  the  Hotel  Manhattan; 
the  unknown  proved  to  be  Koenig,  who  had  been 
informed  of  Schleindl's  occupation  by  the  alert 
German  consul.  Playing  on  the  youth's  patriot- 
ism and  greed,  Koenig  agreed  to  pay  him  $25  a 
week  for  confidential  information  from  the  bank. 


140     The  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

From  that  time  forward  Schleindl  reported  regu- 
larly to  Koenig.  Nearly  every  evening  a  meet- 
ing occurred  in  the  office  in  the  Hamburg- Ameri- 
can building,  and  Koenig  and  Metzler  would 
spend  many  hours  a  night  in  copying  the  letters, 
cables  and  shipping  documents.  In  the  morning 
they  would  return  the  originals  to  Schleindl  on 
his  way  to  work — he  made  it  his  custom  to  arrive 
early  at  the  bank — and  the  papers  would  be  re- 
stored to  their  proper  files  when  the  business  day 
began. 

On  December  17,  191 5,  Schleindl  was  arrested. 
In  his  pocket  w^re  two  documents,  enough  to 
convict  him  of  having  stolen  information:  one  a 
duplicate  of  a  cablegram  from  the  Banque  Beige 
pour  Etrangers  to  the  National  City  Bank  relat- 
ing to  a  shipment  of  2,000,000  rifles  which  was 
then  being  handled  by  the  Hudson  Trust  Com- 
pany; the  other  a  cablegram  from  the  Russian 
Government  authorizing  the  City  Bank  to  place 
some  millions  of  dollars  to  the  credit  of  Colonel 
Golejewski,  the  Russian  naval  attache  and  pur- 
chasing agent.  From  a  German  standpoint,  of 
course,  both  were  highly  significant.  Schleindl's 
arrest  caused  considerable  uneasiness  in  Wall. 
Street,  and  other  banking  houses  who  had  been 
dealing  in  munitions  "looked  unto  themselves" 
lest  there  be  similar  cracks  through  which  infor- 


Franz  Von  Bintelen  141 

mation  might  sift  to  Berlin.  There  had  been 
many  such.  Koenig  was  tried  on  the  charge  of 
having  bought  stolen  information,  and  convicted, 
but  sentence  was  suspended,  although  the  United 
States  already  looked  back  on  two  years  of  water- 
front conspiracies  to  destroy  Allied  shipping. 

The  City  Bank  episode  gave  a  clue  to  the  source 
of  those  conspiracies,  by  the  white  light  which  it 
cast  upon  an  explosion  in  hold  number  2  of  the 
steamship  Minnehaha  on  July  4,  191 5.  Thou- 
sands of  magnetos  were  stored  there  destined  for 
automobiles  at  the  front.  The  only  person  be- 
sides the  officers  of  the  bank  and  of  the  magneto 
factory  who  could  have  known  of  the  ship  in 
which  they  were  transported  was  the  man  who 
wrote  the  letter  to  the  bank  enclosing  the  bill  of 
lading  for  the  shipment.  Naturally  the  officers 
were  not  suspected  of  circulating  the  news;  the 
leak  therefore  must  have  occurred  in  handling  the 
letter.  That  theory  was  a  strong  scent,  made  no 
less  pungent  by  the  activities  in  America  of  one 
Franz  von  Rintelen. 

Rumor  has  credited  Franz  von  Rintelen  with 
relationship  to  the  house  of  Hohenzollern.  Back- 
stairs gossip  called  him  the  Kaiser's  own  son — a 
stigma  which  he  hardly  deserved,  as  his  face  bore 
no  resemblance  to  the  architecture  of  the  Hohen- 
zollern countenance.     It  was  one  of  strong  aqui- 


142     The  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

line  curves;  with  a  coat  of  swarthy  grease  paint 
he  would  have  made  an  acceptable  Indian,  except 
for  his  tight,  thin  lips.  The  muscles  of  his  jaws 
were  forever  playing  under  the  skin — ^he  had  a 
tense,  nervous  habit  of  gritting  his  teeth.  From 
under  his  pale  eyebrows  came  a  sharp  look;  it 
contrasted  strangely  with  the  hollow,  burnt-out 
ferocity  and  fright  which  peered  out  of  the  tired 
eyes  of  his  fellow  prisoners  when  he  was  finally 
tried.  He  had  a  wiry  strength  and  easy  carriage. 
If  he  had  not  been  a  spy,  von  Rintelen  would  have 
made  an  excellent  athlete. 

Like  Boy-Ed  he  had  a  thorough  gymnasium 
training.  He  specialized  in  finance  and  econom- 
ics, entered  the  navy,  and  became  captain-lieuten- 
ant. At  the  end  of  his  period  of  service  he  went 
to  London  and  obtained  employment  in  a  banking 
house.  He  then  went  to  New  York,  where  he 
was  admitted  to  Ladenburg,  Thalmann  &  Co.,  and 
found  time  during  his  first  stay  in  America  to 
serve  as  Germany's  naval  representative  at  the 
ceremonies  commemorating  John  Paul  Jones. 
The  German  Embassy  gave  him  entree  wherever 
he  turned.  He  was  a  member  of  the  New  York 
Yacht  Club,  was  received  at  Newport  and  in  Fifth 
Avenue  as  a  polished  and  agreeable  person  who 
spoke  English,  French  and  Spanish  as  fluently  as 
his  native  tongue,  and  he  acquired  a  broad  first- 


Franz  Von  Rintelen  143 

hand  knowledge  of  American  financial  principles 
and  methods.  He  left  New  York  long  before  the 
war,  saying  he  was  going  to  open  Mexican  and 
South  American  branches  of  a  German  bank. 
When  he  returned  to  Berlin  in  1909,  he  was  well 
qualified  to  sit  in  council  w^ith  Tirpitz  and  the 
navy  group  and  advise  them  on  the  development 
of  the  German  Secret  Service  in  America. 
American  ac([uaintances  who  visited  Berlin  he 
received  with  marked  hospitality,  and  some  he 
even  introduced  to  his  august  friend,  the  Crown 
Prince. 

In  January,  191 5,  von  Rintelen,  then  a  director 
of  the  Deutsche  Bank,  and  the  National  Bank  fiir 
Deutschland,  and  a  man  of  corresponding  wealth, 
was  commissioned  to  go  to  America,  to  buy  cot- 
ton, rubber  and  copper,  and  to  prevent  the  Allies 
from  receiving  munitions.  So  he  went  to  Amer- 
ica. And  from  his  arrival  in  New  York  until  his 
departure  from  that  port,  he  threw  sand  in  the 
smooth-running  machinery  of  the  organized  Ger- 
man spy  system. 

He  eluded  the  vigilance  of  the  Allies  by  using 
a  false  passport.  His  sister  Emily  had  married 
a  Swiss  named  Gasche.  Erasing  the  "y"  on  her 
passport  he  journeyed  In  safety  to  England  as 
''Emil  V.  Gasche,"  a  harmless  Swiss,  who  ob- 
served a  great  deal  about  England's  method  of 


144.     The  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

receiving  munitions.  Then  he  evaporated  to 
Norway.  His  arrival  in  the  United  States  was 
forecast  by  a  wireless  message  which  he  addressed 
from  his  ship  on  April  3,  191 5,  asking  an  Ameri- 
can friend  of  his  to  meet  him  at  the  pier.  The 
American  owned  a  factory  in  Cambrai,  France, 
which  had  been  closed  by  the  German  invasion  on 
August  29,  1 9 14.  The  American  had  hastened  to 
Berlin  in  late  1914  and  asked  his  friend  Rintelen 
to  see  that  the  plant  be  opened.  Rintelen  had 
succeeded,  and  was  come  now  to  break  the  good 
news,  knowing  perfectly  well  that  the  American 
would  be  under  deep  obligation  and  would  secure 
any  introductions  for  him  which  he  might  need. 
When  the  ship  docked,  the  friend  was  not  there, 
for  some  casual  reason.  But  Rintelen,  always 
suspicious,  hired  a  detective,  who  spent  a  week 
investigating;  then  the  friend  was  discovered,  and 
became  Rintelen's  grateful  assistant. 

So  it  happened  that  "Emil  V.  Gasche,"  the 
harmless  Sw^iss,  dropped  out  of  sight  for  the  time 
being,  and  von  Rintelen  assumed  the  parts  of  "Dr. 
Jekyll  and  Mr.  Hyde."  "Dr.  Jekyll"  visited  the 
Yacht  Club  and  called  upon  wealthy  friends,  prov- 
ing a  more  charming,  more  delightful  von  Rin- 
telen than  ever.  He  met  influential  business  men 
who  were  selling  supplies  to  the  Allies.  He  was 
presented   to    society    matrons    and    debutantes 


Franz  Von  Rintelen  145 

whom  he  had  use  for.  To  these  he  was  Herr  von 
Rintelen,  in  America  on  an  important  financial 
mission.  "Mr.  Hyde"  sought  information  from 
von  Bernstorff,  Dr.  Albert,  von  Papen,  Boy-Ed, 
Captain  Tauscher  and  George  Sylvester  Viereck 
about  the  production  of  war  supplies.  Astounded 
by  what  he  learned  from  them  and  had  corrobo- 
rated from  other  sources,  he  began  to  realize  how 
utterly  he  had  misjudged  America's  potential  re- 
sources and  what  a  blunder  he  had  made  in  his 
predictions  to  the  General  War  Staff.  He  saw 
with  a  chilling  vividness  the  capacity  of  America 
to  hand  war  materials  to  the  Allies,  and  her  rap- 
idly increasing  facilities  to  turn  out  greater  quan- 
tities of  ammunition  and  bullets.  The  facts  he 
obtained  struck  him  with  especial  force  because 
of  his  knowledge  of  the  greater  strategy.  It  is 
upon  a  basis  of  the  supplies  of  munitions  in  the 
Allied  countries,  particularly  Russia,  as  von  Rin- 
telen knew  them,  that  his  acts  are  best  judged 
and  upon  this  basis  only  can  sane  motives  be  as- 
signed to  the  rash  projects  which  he  launched. 

When  he  arrived  in  New  York  the  German 
drive  on  Paris  had  failed  because  in  two  months 
the  Germans  had  used  up  ammunition  they  con- 
fidently expected  to  last  three  times  as  long;  the 
English  and  French  in  the  west  could  not  take  up 
the  offensive  because  ammunition  was  not  being 


146     The  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

turned  out  fast  enough;  the  Russian  drive  into 
Germany  and  Austria  would  soon  fail  for  lack  of 
arms  and  bullets.  In  the  winter  and  spring  of 
1915  the  Russians  had  made  a  drive  into  Galicia 
and  Austria,  hurling  the  Austro-German  armies 
back.  They  advanced  victoriously  through  the 
first  range  of  the  Carpathian  mountains  until 
May.  Meantime  the  German  General  Staff,  as 
von  Rintelen  knew,  was  preparing  for  a  retaliat- 
ing offensive.  The  War  Staff  knew  Russia's 
limited  capacity  to  produce  arms  and  ammunition, 
knew  that  during  the  winter,  with  the  port  of 
Archangel  closed  by  ice,  her  only  source  for  new 
supplies  lay  in  the  single-track  Siberian  railway 
bringing  materials  from  Japan.  Rintelen  real- 
ized that  by  spring  the  Russian  resources  had  been 
well  nigh  exhausted  and  he  resolved  that  they 
must  be  shut  off  completel}^  He  knew  that  Eng- 
land and  France  could  not  help.  But  spring  had 
already  come,  and  the  ships  were  sailing  for  Arch- 
angel laden  with  American  shells. 

Von  Rintelen's  reputation  was  at  stake.  The 
work  for  which  he  had  been  so  carefully  trained 
was  bound  to  fail  unless  he  acted  quickly.  He 
exchanged  many  wireless  communications  with 
his  superiors  in  Berlin — messages  that  looked  like 
harmless  expressions  between  his  wife  and  him- 
self, messages  in  which  the  names  of  American 


Franz  Von  Rintelen  147 

officers  who  had  been  in  BeHin  were  used  both  as 
code  words  and  as  a  means  to  impress  their  genu- 
ineness upon  the  American  censor.  He  received 
in  reply  still  greater  authority  than  he  had  on  the 
eve  of  his  departure  from  Germany.  In  his 
quick,  staccato  fashion  he  often  boasted  (and 
there  is  foundation  for  part  of  what  he  said)  that 
he  had  been  sent  to  America  by  the  General  Staff, 
backed  by  ''$50,000,000,  yes  $100,000,000";  that 
he  was  an  agent  plenipotentiary  and  extraordi- 
nary, ready  to  take  any  measure  on  land  and  sea 
to  stop  the  making  of  munitions,  to  halt  their 
transportation  at  the  factory  or  at  the  seaboard. 
He  mapped  out  a  campaign,  remarkable  in  its 
detail,  scope,  recklessness  and  utter  disregard  of 
American  institutions. 

Germany  made  her  first  mistake  in  giving  him 
a  roving  commission.  Germany  was  desperate, 
or  she  would  have  restricted  von  Rintelen  to  cer- 
tain well-defined  enterprises.  Instead  he  ran 
afoul  of  the  military  and  naval  attaches  on  more 
than  one  occasion,  offended  them,  and  did  more 
to  hinder  than  to  help  their  own  plans. 

In  early  April  he  made  his  financial  arrange- 
ments with  the  Trans-Atlantic  Trust  Company, 
where  he  was  known  by  his  own  name.  Money 
was  transferred  from  Berlin  through  large  Ger- 
man business  houses,  and  he  deposited  $800,000 


148     The  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

in  the  Trans-Atlantic  and  millions  among  other 
banks.  He  rented  an  office  in  the  trust  company 
building,  and  had  his  telephone  run  through  the 
trust  company  switchboard.  He  registered  with 
the  county  clerk  to  do  business  as  the  "E.  V.  Gib- 
bon Company;  purchasers  of  supplies"  and  signed 
his  name  to  the  registry  as  "Francis  von  Rinte- 
len."  In  the  office  of  the  E.  V.  Gibbon  Company 
he  received  the  forces  whom  he  proceeded  to  mo- 
bilize; he  was  known  to  them  as  "Fred  Hansen." 
If  he  wanted  a  naval  reservist  he  called  on  Boy- 
Ed  ;  if  an  army  reservist  was  required  von  Papen 
sent  him  to  "Hansen."  Boy-Ed  gave  him  data 
on  ship  sailings,  von  Papen  on  munitions  plants, 
Koenig  on  secret  service. 

His  first  task  was  to  buy  supplies  and  ship  them 
to  Germany.  He  boasted  that  there  was  no  such 
thing  as  a  British  blockade.  Using  his  pseudo- 
nyms of  Gibbon  and  Hansen  he  made  large  pur- 
chases and  with  the  aid  of  Captain  Gustave  Stein- 
berg, a  naval  reservist,  he  chartered  ships  and  dis- 
patched them  under  false  manifests  to  Italy  and 
Norway,  where  their  cargoes  could  be  readily 
smuggled  into  Germany.  Through  Steinberg  he 
importuned  a  chemist,  Dr.  Walter  T.  Scheele,  to 
soak  fertilizer  in  lubricating  oil  for  shipment  to 
the  Fatherland,  where  the  valuable  oil  could  be 
easily  extracted.     Through  the  same  intermedi- 


Franz  Von  Rintelen  149 

ary  von  Rintelen  gave  Dr.  Scheele  $20,000  to  ship 
a  cargo  of  munitions  under  a  false  manifest  as 
"farm  implements";  Dr.  Scheele  kept  the  $20,000 
and  actually  shipped  a  cargo  of  farm  machinery. 
Rintelen's-next  venture  attracted  some  unpleas- 
ant attention.  The  United  States  Government 
had  condemned  some  350,000  Krag-Joergensen 
rifles,  which  it  refused  to  sell  to  any  of  the  bellig- 
erents. Rintelen  cast  a  fond  eye  in  their  direc- 
tion. President  Wilson  had  told  a  banker: 
"You  will  get  those  rifles  only  over  my  dead 
body."  Rintelen  heard,  however,  that  by  bribing 
certain  officials  he  could  obtain  the  guns,  so  he 
sent  out  agents  to  learn  what  they  would  cost, 
and  found  a  man  who  said  he  could  buy  them  for 
$17,826,000,  part  of  which  was  to  be  used  for 
effective  bribery.  "So  close  am  I  to  the  Presi- 
dent," said  the  intermediary,  "that  two  days  after 
I  deposit  the  money  in  the  bank  you  can  dandle 
his  grandchild  on  your  knee!"  But  just  when 
the  negotiations  were  growing  bright,  Rintelen 
was  told  that  the  man  who  proposed  to  sell  him 
the  rifles  was  a  secret  agent  from  another  govern- 
ment. A  certain  "Dr.  Alfred  Meyer"  was  known 
to  have  been  groping  for  those  rifles,  and  the 
newspapers  and  government  officials  became  sud- 
denly interested  in  his  real  identity.  A  dowdy 
woman's  implication  reached  a  reporter's  ears; 


150     The  German  Secret  Seixice  in  America 

presently  the  newspapers  burst  out  in  the  "dis- 
covery" that  "Dr.  Alfred  Meyer"  was  none  other 
than  Dr.  Meyer-Gerhardt,  a  German  Red  Cross 
envoy  then  in  the  United  States.  Like  the  pop- 
ping of  a  machine  gun,  ''correct  versions  of  the 
facts"  were  published:  "Dr.  Meyer-Gerhardt 
denied  vigorously  that  he  was  'Dr.  Alfred 
Meyer/  "  then  "  'Dr.  Alfred  Meyer'  was  known 
to  have  left  the  United  States  on  the  same  ship 
with  Dr.  Meyer-Gerhardt,"  then  "an  American 
citizen  came  forward  anonymously  and  said  that 
he  had  posed  as  'Dr.  Alfred  Meyer'  in  order  to 
test  the  good  faith  of  the  Government." 

This  last  announcement  may  have  been  true. 
It  was  made  to  a  New  York  Sun  reporter  by  a 
German,  Karl  Schimmel,  who  professed  his  alle- 
giance to  the  United  States,  and  by  the  "Ameri- 
can citizen"  who  said  he  had  posed  as  ''Dr.  Al- 
fred Meyer."  It  may  have  been  made  to  shield 
Rintelen  himself,  for  the  "American  citizen"  was 
an  employe  of  a  German  newspaper  in  New  York, 
a  friend  of  Rintelen's,  a  friend  of  Schimmel's  and 
Schimmel  himself  was  in  von  Rintelen's  pay. 

Let  a  pack  of  reporters  loose  on  a  half  dozen 
tangents  and  they  will  probably  scratch  the  truth. 
A  Tribune  man  heard  a  whisper  of  the  facts  and 
set  out  on  a  hunt  for  "two  Germans,  Meyer  and 
Hansen,    who   have   been    acting    funny."     He 


Franz  Von  Rintelen  151 

frightened  the  personnel  right  out  of  the  office  of 
the  E.  V.  Gibbon  Company.  Captain  Steinberg 
fled  to  Germany  with  a  trunkful  of  reports  on 
the  necessity  of  concerted  action  to  stop  the  ship- 
ment of  munitions  to  the  Allies,  and  Rintelen  mi- 
grated to  an  office  in  the  Woolworth  Building. 
Some  one  heard  of  his  activities  there  and  he  was 
evicted,  taking  final  refuge  in  the  Liberty  Tower, 
in  the  office  of  Andrew  M.  Meloy,  who  had  been 
in  Germany  to  interest  the  German  government 
in  a  scheme  similar  to  Rintelen's  own.  In  Me- 
loy's  office  Rintelen  posed  as  "E.  V.  Gates" — 
preserving  the  shadow  of  his  identity  as  "Emil 
V.  Gasche."  So  effective  was  his  disappearance 
from  the  public  view,  that  he  was  reported  to 
have  gone  abroad  as  a  secretary,  and  he  sat  in 
the  tower  and  chuckled,  and  sent  messages  by 
wireless  to  Berlin  through  Sayville,  and  cable- 
grams to  Berlin  through  England  and  Holland, 
and  enjoyed  all  the  sensations  of  a  man  attending 
a  triple  funeral  in  his  honor.  ''Meyer,"  "Han- 
sen" and  "Gasche"  were  all  dead,  and  yet,  here 
was  Rintelen! 

Although  his  sojourn  in  New  York  covered  a 
period  which  was  the  peak  of  the  curve  of  Ger- 
man atrocities  in  the  United  States,  Rintelen  was 
a  fifth  wheel.  No  man  came  to  America  to  ac- 
complish more,  and  no  man  accomplished  less. 


152     Tlie  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

No  German  agent  had  his  boldness  of  project,  and 
no  German  executive  met  a  more  ignominious 
fate.  Whatever  he  touched  with  his  golden  wand 
turned  to  dross.  He  was  hoodwinked  here  and 
there  by  his  own  agents,  and  frustrated  by  the 
vigilance  of  the  Allied  and  the  United  States  gov- 
ernments. He  has  been  introduced  here  because 
of  his  connection  with  subsequent  events,  and  yet 
this  picturesque  figure  played  the  major  part  in 
not  one  successful  venture. 

Four  months  he  passed  in  America,  until  it  be- 
came too  small  for  him.  In  August  the  capture 
of  Dr.  Albert's  portfolio  and  the  publication  of 
certain  of  its  contents  frightened  Rintelen,  and 
he  applied  for  a  passport  as  "Edward  V.  Gates, 
an  American  citizen  of  Millersville,  Pa.,"  but  he 
did  not  dare  claim  it.  Though  he  had  bought 
tickets  under  the  alias,  and  had  had  drafts  made 
payable  in  that  name,  he  did  not  occupy  the 
''Gates"  cabin  on  the  Noordam,  but  at  the  last 
minute  engaged  passage  under  the  renascent 
name  of  "Emil  V.  Gasche,"  the  harmless  Swiss. 
He  eluded  the  Federal  agents,  and  sailed  safely 
to  Falmouth,  England,  where,  after  a  search  of 
the  ship,  and  an  excellent  attempt  to  bluff  it 
through,  he  finally  surrendered  to  the  British  au- 
thorities as  a  prisoner-of-war.  Meloy  and  his 
secretary  were  captured  with  him. 


Franz  Von  Eintelen  153 

Rintelen  was  returned  to  the  United  States  in 
1916.  He  was  convicted  in  1917  and  1918  on 
successive  charges  of  conspiracy  to  violate  the 
Sherman  Anti-Trust  law,  to  obtain  a  fraudulent 
passport,  and  to  destroy  merchant  ships — which 
combined  to  sentence  him  to  a  year  in  the  Tombs 
and  nine  years  in  a  Federal  prison. 


CHAPTER  XI 

SHIP    BOMBS 

Mobilizing  destroying  agents — The  plotters  in  Hoboken 
— Von  Kleist's  arrest  and  confession — The  Kirk  Oszvald 
trial — Further  explosions — The  Arabic — Robert  Fay — 
His  arrest — The  ship  plots  decrease. 

The  reader  will  recall  a  circular  quoted  in 
Chapter  VIII,  and  issued  November  i8,  1914, 
from  German  Naval  Headquarters,  mobilizing 
all  destroying  agents  in  harbors  overseas. 

On  January  3,  191 5,  there  v^^as  an  explosion  on 
board  the  munitions  ship  Orton,  lying  in  Erie 
Basin,  a  part  of  New  York  harbor.  On  Febru- 
ary 6  a  bomb  was  found  in  the  cargo  of  the  Han- 
nington.  On  February  27  the  Carlton  caught 
fire  at  sea.  On  April  20  two  bombs  were  found 
in  the  cargo  of  the  Lord  Erne.  One  week  later 
the  same  discovery  was  made  in  the  hold  of  the 
Devon  City.  All  of  which  accounts  for  the  fol- 
lowing charge : 

"George  D.  Barnitz,  being  duly  sv/orn,  deposes  and 
says  ...  on  information  and  belief  that  on  the  first  day 

154 


Ship  Bombs  155 

of  January,  1915,  and  on  every  day  thereafter  down  to 
and  including  the  13th  day  of  April,  1916,  the  defendants 
Walter  T.  Scheele,  Charles  von  Kleist,  Otto  Wolpert, 
Ernst  Becker,  (Charles)  Karbade,  the  first  name  Charles 
being  fictitious,  the  true  first  name  of  defendant  being 
unknown,  (Frederick)  Praedel  .  .  .  (Wilhelm)  Paradis 
.  .  .,  Eno  Bode  and  Carl  Schmidt  .  .  .  did  unlawfully, 
feloniously  and  corruptly  conspire  ...  to  manufacture 
bombs  filled  with  chemicals  and  explosives  and  to  place 
said  bombs  .  .  .  upon  vessels  belonging  to  others  and 
laden  with  moneys,  goods  and  merchandise.  .  .  ." 

Ninety-one  German  ships  were  confined  to 
American  harbors  by  the  activities  of  the  British 
fleet,  ranging  from  the  Neptun,  of  197  tons,  in 
San  Francisco  Bay,  to  the  Vaterland,  of  54,000 
tons,  the  largest  vessel  on  the  seven  seas,  tied  up 
to  accrue  barnacles  at  her  Hoboken  pier,  and 
later,  as  the  Leviathan,  to  transport  American 
troops  to  France.  Every  one  of  the  ninety-one 
ships  was  a  nest  of  German  agents.  Only  a  mod- 
erate watch  was  kept  on  their  crews,  and  there 
were  many  restless  men  among  them.  Every 
man  aboard  was  liable  to  command  from  Captain 
Boy-Ed,  for  the  German  merchant  marine  was 
part  of  the  formal  naval  organization.  The  in- 
terned sailors  found  shortly  that  they  could  be 
of  distinct  service  to  their  country  without  stir- 
ring from  their  ships. 

Not  far  from  the  North  German  Lloyd  piers 


156     The  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

in  Hoboken  lived  Captain  Charles  von  Kleist,  67 
years  old,  a  chemist  and  former  German  army- 
officer.  One  day  there  came  to  him  one  who 
spoke  the  German  tongue  and  who  said  he  came 
from  Wolf  von  Igel,  in  von  Papen's  office.  Those 
were  good  credentials,  especially  since  the  gentle- 
man was  inquiring  on  von  Igel's  behalf  whether 
Kleist  needed  any  money  in  the  work  he  was 
doing.  The  polite  caller  returned  a  few  days 
later  with  another  man,  who  spoke  no  German. 
Von  Kleist  asked  whether  he  was  also  from  the 
Fatherland,  and  was  told  no,  but  "we  have  to  use 
all  kinds  of  people  in  our  business — that's  how  we 
fool  these  Yankees !"  Von  Kleist  laughed  heart- 
ily, and  wagged  his  head,  and  went  out  in  the 
garden  and  dug  up  a  bomb-case  and  showed  the 
visitors  how  it  had  been  made.  The  visitors  were 
Detectives  Barth  and  Barnitz. 

They  assured  Kleist  that  von  Igel  wanted  to 
know  precisely  what  he  and  his  associates  were 
doing,  so  no  money  might  be  paid  to  the  wrong 
parties.  The  aged  captain  wrote  out  a  memo- 
randum of  his  activities,  which  he  signed,  and  the 
detectives  proposed  a  trip  to  Coney  Island  as  an 
evidence  of  good  faith,  so  the  three  had  a  pleas- 
ant afternoon  at  the  Hotel  Shelburne,  and  the 
officers  then  suggested :  ''Let's  go  up  and  see  the 
chief."     "Chief"  to  von  Kleist  meant  von  Igel; 


Ship  Bombs  157 

he  agreed,  and  was  taken  gently  into  the  arms  of 
the  chief  of  detectives. 

He  implicated,  as  he  sat  there  answering 
questions,  Captain  Eno  Bode,  pier  superintendent 
of  the  Hamburg-American  Line,  Captain  Otto 
Wolpert,  pier  superintendent  of  the  Atlas  Line, 
and  Ernst  Becker,  an  electrician  on  the  North 
German  Lloyd  liner  Friedrich  dcr  Grosse,  tied  up 
at  Hoboken.  The  other  conspirators  were  in- 
duced to  come  to  New  York,  and  were  arrested 
at  once.  Bode  and  Wolpert,  powerful  bullies  of 
Paul  Koenig's  own  stamp,  proved  defiant  in  the 
extreme.  Becker,  knowing  no  word  of  English, 
was  pathetically  courteous  and  ready  to  answer. 
But  it  remained  for  von  Kleist  to  supply  the  nar- 
rative. 

Becker,  working  on  the  sunny  deck  of  the 
Friedrich  der  Grosse,  had  made  numerous  bomb 
cases,  rolling  sheet  lead  into  a  cylinder,  and  in- 
serting in  the  tube  a  cup-shaped  aluminum  parti- 
tion. These  containers  he  turned  over  to  Dr. 
Walter  Scheele  at  his  "New  Jersey  Agricultural 
Company,"  where  he  filled  one  compartment  with 
nitroglycerine,  the  other  with  sulphuric  acid. 
Scheele  supplied  the  mechanics  with  sheet  lead 
for  the  purpose.  The  borribs  were  then  sealed 
and  packed  in  sand  for  distribution  to  various 
German  gathering  places,  such  as,  for  example, 


158     The  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

the  Turn  Verein  in  the  Brooklyn  Labor  Lyceum. 
Wolpert  appeared  there  at  a  meeting  one  night 
and  berated  the  Germans  present  for  talking  too 
much  and  acting  too  little ;  he  wanted  results,  he 
said.  Eugene  Reister,  the  proprietor  of  the 
place,  said  that  shortly  afterward  Walter  Uhde 
and  one  Klein  (who  died  before  the  police  reached 
him)  had  taken  away  a  bundle  of  bombs  from  the 
Turn  Verein  and  had  placed  them  on  the  Lusi- 
tania,  just  before  lier  last  voyage,  and  added  that 
Klein,  when  he  heard  of  the  destruction  of  the 
ship,  expressed  regret  that  he  had  done  it.  Karl 
Schimmel — the  same  who  had  negotiated  for  the 
Krag  rifles — said  later  to  Reister:  'T  really  put 
bombs  on  that  boat,  but  I  don't  believe  that  fellow 
Klein  ever  did." 

Following  Kleist's  information,  agents  of  the 
Department  of  Justice  and  New  York  police  in- 
spected the  Friedricli  der  Grosse,  and  found  cjuan- 
tities  of  chlorate  of  potash  and  other  chemicals. 
They  brought  back  with  them  also  Garbode  (men- 
tioned in  the  charge  as  "Karbade"),  Paradis  and 
Praedel,  fourth  engineers  on  the  ship,  who  had 
assisted  in  making  the  bombs,  and  Carl  Schmidt, 
the  chief  engineer.  All  of  the  group  were  impli- 
cated in  the  plot  to  the  complete  satisfaction  of 
a  jury  which  concluded  their  cases  in  May,  1917, 
by  convicting  them  of  ''conspiracy  to  destroy  ships 


Ship  Bombs  159 

through  the  use  of  fire  bombs  placed  thereon." 
Kleist  and  Schmidt  received  sentences  of  two 
years  each  in  Atlanta  Penitentiary  and  were  each 
fined  $5,000;  Becker,  Karbade,  Praedel  and  Para- 
dis  were  fined  $500  apiece  and  sentenced  to  six 
months  in  prison.  Dr.  Scheele  fled  from  justice, 
and  was  arrested  in  March,  19 18,  in  Havana.  A 
liberal  supply  of  vicious  chemicals  and  explo- 
sives discovered  in  his  "New  Jersey  Agricultural 
Company"  implicated  him  thoroughly,  if  the  evi- 
dence given  by  his  fellows  had  not  already  done 
so.  When  he  was  finally  captured  he  faced  two 
federal  indictments :  one  with  Steinberg  and  von 
Igel  for  smuggling  lubricating  oil  out  of  the  coun- 
try as  fertilizer,  under  false  customs  manifests; 
the  other  the  somewhat  more  criminal  charge  of 
bombing. 

On  April  29,  191 5,  the  Cressington  caught  fire 
at  sea.  Three  days  later,  in  the  hold  of  the  Kirk 
Oswald^  a  sailor  found  a  bomb  tucked  away  in  a 
hiding  place  where  its  later  explosion  would  have 
started  a  serious  fire.  So  it  came  about  that 
when  the  four  lesser  conspirators  of  the  fire-bomb 
plot  had  served  their  six  months'  sentences,  they 
were  at  once  rearrested  on  the  specific  charge  of 
having  actually  planted  that  bomb  in  the  Kirk 
Oswald.  The  burly  dock  captains,  Bode  and 
Wolpert,  who  had  blustered  their  innocence  in 


160     The  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

the  previous  trial,  and  had  succeeded  in  securing 
heavy  bail  from  the  Hamburg-American  Line 
pending  separate  trials  for  themselves,  were 
nipped  this  time  with  evidence  which  let  none  slip 
through.  Rintelen  was  haled  from  his  cell  to 
answer  to  his  part  in  the  Kirk  Oswald  affair,  and 
the  jury,  in  January,  19 18,  declared  the  nine  plot- 
ters "guilty  as  charged"  and  Judge  Howe  sen- 
tenced them  to  long  terms  in  prison.  Rintelen, 
alone  of  the  group,  as  they  sat  in  court,  had  an 
air  of  anything  but  wretched  fanatic  querulous- 
ness.  He  followed  the  proceedings  closely,  and 
once  took  the  trial  into  his  own  hands  in  a  flash 
of  temper  when  the  State  kept  referring  to  the 
loss  of  the  Lusitania.  It  went  hard  with  the 
nobleman  to  be  herded  into  a  common  American 
court  with  a  riff-raff  of  hireling  crooks  and 
treated  with  impartial  justice.  In  Germany  it 
never  could  have  happened! 

If  those  trials  had  occurred  in  May,  191 5,  the 
history  of  the  transport  of  arms  and  shells  would 
not  have  been  marred  by  such  entries  as  these : 

May  8 — Bankdale;  two  bombs  found  in  cargo. 
May  13 — Samland;  afire  at  sea. 
May  21 — Anglo-Saxon;  bomb  found  aboard. 
June  2 — Strathway;  afire  at  sea. 

July  4 — Minnehaha;  bomb  exploded  at  sea.  (The 
magnetos.) 


Ship  Bombs  161 

July  13 — Toiiraine;  afire  at  sea. 
July  14 — Lord  Dozvnshire;  afire. 
July  20 — Kn  lit  ford;  afire  in  hold. 
July  24 — Craigside ;  five  fires  in  hold. 
July  2"/ — Arabic;  two  bombs  found  aboard. 
Aug.  9 — Asuncion  de  Larrinaga;  afire  at  sea. 
Aug.   13 — Williston;  bombs  in  cargo. 
Aug.  27 — Lighter  Dixie;  fire  while  loading. 

On  August  31  the  White  Star  liner  Arabic,  nine- 
teen hours  out  of  Liverpool  was  torpedoed  by  a 
German  submarine  and  sank  in  eleven  minutes, 
taking  39  lives,  of  which  two  were  American. 
Germany,  on  September  9,  declared  that  the 
U-boat  commander  attacked  the  Arabic  without 
warning,  contrary  to  his  instructions,  but  only 
after  he  was  convinced  that  the  liner  was  trying 
to  ram  him;  the  Imperial  Government  expressed 
regret  for  the  loss  of  American  lives,  but  dis- 
claimed any  liability  for  indemnity,  and  sug- 
gested arbitration.  On  October  5,  however,  the 
government  in  Berlin  had  changed  its  tune  to  the 
extent  of  issuing  a  note  expressing  regret  for 
having  sunk  the  ship,  disavowing  the  act  of  the 
submarine  commander,  and  assuring  the  United 
States  that  new  orders  to  submarines  were  so 
strict  that  a  recurrence  of  any  such  action  was 
"considered  out  of  the  question."  If  the  cargoes 
could  be  fired  at  sea,  no  submarine  issue  need  be 


162     The  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

raised.  And  so  fires  and  bombs  continued  to  be 
discovered  on  ships  just  as  consistently  as  before. 
The  log,  resumed,  runs  thus : 

Sept.  I — Rotterdam ;  fire  at  sea. 

Sept.  7 — Santa  Anna;  fire  at  sea. 

Sept.  29 — San  Giiglielmo;  dynamite  found  on  pier. 

Now  von  Rintelen's  handiwork  was  revealed  in 
the  adventures  of  Robert  Fay,  or  "Fae,"  as  he 
was  known  in  the  Fatherland.  In  spite  of  the 
imaginative  quality  of  the  enterprise,  and  the 
additional  guilt  which  it  heaped  upon  the  execu- 
tives of  the  spy  system,  it  was  not  successful. 
There  were  vibrant  moments,  though,  when  only 
the  mobilization  of  police  from  two  states  and 
special  agents  from  the  Secret  Service  and  De- 
partment of  Justice  averted  what  would  have 
developed  into  a  profitable  method  of  destroying 
ships. 

Lieutenant  Robert  Fay  was  born  in  Cologne, 
where  he  lived  until  1902.  In  that  year  he  mi- 
grated to  Canada,  where  he  worked  on  a  farm, 
and  later  to  Chicago,  where  he  was  employed  as 
a  bookkeeper  until  1905.  He  then  returned  to 
Germany  for  his  military  service,  and  went  to 
work  again  in  Cologne,  in  the  office  of  Thomas 
Cook  &  Sons.  After  a  period  in  a  Mannheim 
machine  shop  he  went  home  and  devoted  himself 


Ship  Bombs  163 

to  certain  mechanical  inventions,  and  was  at  work 
upon  them  when  he  was  called  out  for  war  serv- 
ice on  August  I,  1 914. 

His  regiment  went  into  the  trenches,  and  the 
lieutenant  had  some  success  in  dynamiting  a 
French  position.  Conniving  with  a  superior  of- 
ficer, he  deserted  his  command,  and  was  sent  to 
America  by  a  German  reputed  to  be  the  head  of 
the  secret  service,  one  Jonnersen,  Jonnersen 
gave  Fay  20,000  marks  for  expenses  in  carrying 
out  a  plan  to  stop  shipments  of  munitions  from 
America,  and  Fay  arrived  in  New  York  April  23, 
191 5,  on  the  Rotterdam. 

Dr.  Herbert  Kienzle,  a  clock-maker,  of  309 
West  86th  Street,  had  written  to  his  father  in 
Germany  bitterly  assailing  the  United  States  for 
shipping  munitions,  and  enclosed  in  his  letters 
information  of  certain  American  firms,  such  as 
Browne  &  Sharp,  of  Providence,  and  the  Chal- 
mers Motor  Car  Company,  of  Detroit,  who  were 
reputed  to  be  manufacturing  them.  These  let- 
ters had  been  turned  over  to  Jonnersen,  who 
showed  them  to  Fay  as  suggestions.  Upon  his 
arrival  in  New  York,  then.  Fay  called  on  Kienzle, 
who,  though  he  was  friendly  enough,  was  reluc- 
tant to  know  of  the  details  Fay  had  planned.  Dr. 
Kienzle  introduced  Fay  to  von  Papen,  and  later 


164     The  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

to  Max  Breitung,  from  whom  he  purchased  a 
quantity  of  potassium  chlorate. 

The  deserter  found  his  brother-in-law,  Walter 
Scholz,  working  as  a  gardener  on  an  estate  near 
Waterford,  Connecticut,  and  brought  him  to  New 
York  on  a  salary  of  $25  a  week.  The  two  crossed 
the  Hudson  to  Weehawken,  N.  J.,  and  set  to  work 
to  make  bombs.  Fay  had  a  theory  that  a  bomb 
might  be  attached  to  the  rudder  of  a  ship,  and  so 
set  as  to  explode  when  the  rudder,  swinging  to 
port,  wound  a  ratchet  inside  the  device  which 
would  release  a  hammer  upon  a  percussion  cap. 
Their  plan  was  to  have  the  parts  manufactured 
at  machine  shops,  assemble  and  fill  them  them- 
selves, and  then  steal  up  the  waterfront  in  the 
small  hours  and  attach  the  infernal  machines  to 
outward  bound  vessels.  Fay  even  counted  on 
disarming  the  police  boats  before  setting  out. 

It  took  the  two  some  three  months  to  get  the 
parts  made  and  properly  adjusted.  Meanwhile 
they  employed  their  spare  hours  in  cruising  about 
the  harbor  in  a  motor-boat.  A  machinist  in  West 
42nd  Street,  New  York,  made  the  zinc  tank  which 
they  used  as  a  model,  and  the  two  conspirators 
shortly  opened  a  garage  in  Weehawken  where 
they  could  duplicate  the  bomb  cases  unmolested. 

There  came  a  time  when  the  devices  were  satis- 
factory, and  Fay  actually  attached  one  to  the 


Ship  Bombs  165 

rudder  of  a  ship  to  make  sure  that  his  adjust- 
ments were  correct.  The  next  move  was  to 
obtain  explosives.  Fay's  prejudice  against 
bombs  placed  in  a  ship's  hold  was  that  they  rarely 
succeeded  in  sinking  the  craft;  seventy  or  eighty 
pounds  of  high  explosive  detonated  at  the  stern 
of  a  vessel,  however,  would  blow  the  rudder  away 
and  not  only  cripple  the  ship  but  would  probably 
burst  a  hole  in  the  stern,  mangle  the  screw,  and 
split  the  shaft. 

Captain  Tunney,  of  the  Bomb  Squad,  heard  in 
October  that  two  Germans  were  trying  to  buy  pic- 
ric acid  from  a  man  who  stopped  at  the  Hotel 
Breslin,  and  who  called  himself  Paul  Seib  and 
Karl  F.  Oppegaarde,  as  the  occasion  demanded. 
Tunney's  men  located  the  two  Germans,  and  some 
days  later  learned  that  they  had  placed  an  order 
for  fifty-two  pounds  of  TNT,  to  be  delivered  at 
the  Weehawken  garage.  The  delivery  was  inter- 
cepted, a  similar  but  harmless  substance  substi- 
tuted for  the  explosive,  and  two  detective-truck- 
men took  the  package  aw^ay  on  their  truck  to  de- 
liver it  to  Fay  and  Scholz.  While  they  were  in 
New  Jersey,  Detectives  Coy,  Sterrett  and  Walsh 
found  Fay  at  the  Breslin,  and  followed  him  back 
to  Weehawken.  As  he  left  the  garage  in  the 
evening  in  his  automobile,  the  automobile  of  Po- 
lice Commissioner  Woods  followed  at  a  discreet 


166     The  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

distance.  Up  the  Palisades  the  two  cars  paraded, 
until  in  a  grove  near  Grantwood,  Fay  and  Scholz 
got  out  of  their  car  and  disappeared  into  the 
woods  with  a  lantern.  After  a  time  they  re- 
appeared, and  returned  to  the  garage,  the  police 
following. 

Next  morning  Chief  Flynn  was  called  into  the 
hunt — the  morning  of  Saturday,  October  23 — and 
he  assigned  two  special  agents  to  the  case.  The 
police  department  directed  two  detectives  to 
watch  the  woods  at  Grantwood  where  the  con- 
spirators had  gone  the  night  before.  Detectives 
Murphy  and  Fennelly,  each  equipped  with  line- 
men's climbers,  arrived  at  the  wood-road  about 
noon,  and  spent  the  next  eleven  hours  in  the 
branches  of  a  great  oak  tree  which  commanded 
the  road.  The  perch  was  high  and  the  night 
wind  chilly,  but  the  watchers  were  rewarded  at 
last  by  the  twin  searchlights  of  an  approaching 
car.  Out  of  it  stepped  Fay  and  Scholz.  The 
men  in  the  branches  saw  by  the  light  of  the  lan- 
tern which  Scholz  carried  that  Fay  placed  a  pack- 
age underneath  a  distant  tree,  walked  to  a  safe 
distance,  exploded  a  percussion  cap,  watched  the 
tree  topple  over  and  went  away,  apparently  satis- 
fied with  the  power  of  his  explosives. 

Meanwhile  other  detectives  were  watching  the 
rooming  house  at  Union  Hill  where  Fay  and 


Copyright,     Jnffrnational    t'l/m    Se 


Robert  Fay,  who  made  bombs  with  which  he  hoped  to 
cripple  the  shipment  of  munitions  to  Europe 


Ship  Bombs  167 

Scholz  lived,  and  they  saw  the  two  come  in  about 
4  o'clock  in  the  morning.  Scholz  had  very  little 
sleep,  for  there  was  a  ship  leaving  next  day  for 
Liverpool.  He  left  the  house  at  7  a.  m.  and  went 
to  the  garage.  Thereupon  three  detectives  re- 
turned to  the  great  oak  tree  at  Grantwood. 
About  noon  Fay  and  his  brother-in-law  drove  up, 
and  unlocking  the  door  of  a  rude  hut  in  the  wood, 
took  out  a  bag,  from  which  they  poured  a  few 
grains  of  powder  on  the  surface  of  a  rock.  Fay 
struck  the  rock  with  a  hammer;  a  loud  report 
followed,  and  the  hammer  broke  in  his  hand.  A 
moment  later  he  heard  a  twig  snap  behind  him. 
He  turned,  and  saw  a  small  army  of  detectives 
with  drav;n  revolvers  closing  in  on  him.  Fay 
protested  and  pleaded,  and  offered  to  bribe  the 
detectives  for  his  freedom,  but  he  Vv^as  locked 
up  with  Scholz.  The  two  had  stored  in  a  ware- 
house several  cases  containing  their  completed 
bomb  mechanisms;  the  police  confiscated  from 
their  various  caches  five  new  bombs,  25  pounds  of 
TNT,  25  sticks  of  dynamite,  150  pounds  of  chlo- 
rate of  potash,  two  hundred  bomb  cylinders,  400 
percussion  caps,  one  motor-boat,  one  chart  of 
New  York  harbor  showing  all  its  fortifications 
and  piers,  one  foreign  automobile,  two  German 
automatic  pistols  and  a  long  knife — a  consider- 
able arsenal. 


168     The  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

Their  confessions  caused  the  arrest  of  Paul 
Daeche,  who  had  furnished  them  with  explosives, 
Dr.  Kienzle,  Breitung,  and  Engelbert  Bronk- 
horst.  Fay  received  a  sentence  of  eight  years  in 
the  penitentiary,  but  after  America  went  to  war, 
Atlanta  became  too  confining  for  his  adventurous 
spirit,  and  he  escaped  the  prison,  and  is  believed 
to  have  crossed  the  Mexican  border  to  safety. 
Scholz  was  sentenced  to  four  years,  and  Daeche 
of  three.  Kienzle,  Breitung  and  Bronkhorst  were 
not  tried,  their  apparent  ignorance  of  Fay's  de- 
signs outweighing  in  the  jury's  mind  their  obvi- 
ous German  sympathies.  Kienzle,  upon  the  dec- 
laration of  war  of  April  6,  1917,  became  an  en- 
emy alien,  and  was  interned. 

So  Lieutenant  Fay  never  qualified  in  active 
service  as  a  destroying  agent.  Yet  he  was  profli- 
gate in  his  intentions.  He  ofifered  two  men 
$500,000  if  they  could  intrigue  among  the  ship- 
pers in  order  that  a  ship  laden  with  copper  for 
England  might  wander  from  the  path  of  convoy 
into  German  hands,  and  he  even  entertained  the 
fantastic  hope,  with  his  chart  and  his  motor-boat 
and  his  bombs,  of  stealing  out  of  the  harbor  to  the 
cordon  of  British  cruisers  who  hung  outside  the 
three-mile  limit  and  attaching  his  bombs  to  their 
rudders,  that  the  German  merchantmen  might 
escape  into  the  open  sea. 


SMp  Bombs  169 

On  October  26  the  Rio  Lages  caught  fire  at  sea ; 
fire  broke  out  in  the  hold  of  the  Euterpe  on  No- 
vember 3 ;  three  days  later  there  was  fire  aboard 
the  Rochambeau  at  sea;  the  next  day  an  explosion 
occurred  aboard  the  Ancona.  And  so  the  list 
runs  on : 

Dec.     4 — Tynninyham,  two  fires  on  ship. 
Dec.  24 — Alston,  dynamite  found  in  cargo. 
Dec.  26 — Inchmoor,  fire  in  hold. 

1916 
Jan.  19 — Sygna,  fire  at  sea. 
Jan.  19 — Ryndam,  bomb  explosion  at  sea. 
Jan.  22 — Rosebank,  two  bombs  in  cargo. 
Feb.  16 — Dalton,  fire  at  sea. 
Feb.  21 — Tennyson,  bomb  explosion  at  sea. 
Feb.  26 — Livingston  Court,  fire  in  Gravesend  Bay. 

April  saw  the  round-up  of  the  group  who  had 
been  working  under  the  Hamburg- American  cap- 
tains, and  although  numerous  fires  occurred  dur- 
ing May,  19 1 6,  in  almost  every  case  they  were 
traced  to  natural  accidents.  The  number 
mounted  more  slowly  as  the  year  advanced. 
With  the  entrance  of  America  into  the  war,  and 
the  tightening  of  the  police  cordon  along  the 
waterfront,  the  chance  of  planting  bombs  was 
still  further  reduced,  but  waterfront  fires  kept  re- 
curring, and  until  the  day  of  ultimate  judgment  in 
Berlin,   when  each  of   Germany's  arsonists   in 


170     TJie  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

America  comes  to  claim  his  reward,  none  will 
know  the  total  of  loss  at  their  hands.  It  was 
enormous  in  the  damage  it  inflicted  upon  cargo, 
but  it  is  improbable  that  it  had  any  perceptible 
effect  upon  the  whole  export  of  shells  for  Flan- 
ders and  France. 


CHAPTER  XII 

LABOR 

David  Lamar — Labor's  National  Peace  Council — The 
embargo  conference — The  attempted  longshoremen's 
strike — Dr.  Dumba's  recall. 

Labor  produced  munitions.  The  hands  of 
labor  could  be  frightened  away  from  work  by 
explosions,  their  handiwork  could  be  bombed  on 
the  railways,  the  wharves,  the  lighters,  and  the 
ships,  but  a  surer  method  than  either  of  those 
was  the  perversion  of  the  hearts  of  labor.  So 
thought  Count  von  Bernstorff  and  Dr.  Albert, 
who  dealt  in  men.  So  thought  Berlin — the  Gen- 
eral Staff  sent  this  message  to  America : 

"January  26 — For  Military  Attache.  You  can  obtain 
particulars  as  to  persons  suitable  for  carrying  on  sabot- 
age in  the  United  States  and  Canada  from  the  following 
persons:  (i)  Joseph  McGarrity,  Philadelphia;  (2) 
John  P.  Keating,  Michigan  Avenue,  Chicago;  (3)  Jere- 
miah O'Leary,  16  Park  Row^,  New  York. 

"One  and  two  are  absolutely  reliable  and  discreet. 
Three  is  reliable,  but  not  always  discreet.  These  persons 
were  indicated  by  Sir  Roger  Casement.     In  the  United 

171 


172     The  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

States   sabotage   can  be  carried   out  on  every  kind  of 
factory  for  supplying  munitions  of  war," 

(Signed)   "Representative  of  General  Staff."  ^ 

So  too  thought  von  Rintelen,  who  hired  men — 
usually  the  wrong  ones. 

Full  of  his  project,  he  cast  about  for  an  inter- 
mediary. No  sly  chemist  or  muscular  wharf-rat 
would  do  for  this  delicate  task  of  anesthetizing 
men  with  the  gas  of  German  propaganda  while  it 
tied  their  hands  and  amputated  their  centres  of 
right  and  wrong;  the  candidate  must  be  a  man  of 
affairs,  intimate  with  the  chiefs  of  labor,  skillful 
in  execution,  and  the  abler  the  better.  Von  Rin- 
telen would  pay  handsomely  for  the  right  man. 
Whereupon  David  Lamar,  the  ''Wolf  of  Wall 
Street,"  appeared  on  the  scene  and  applied  for 
the  job — an  entrance  auspicious  for  the  United 
States,  for  the  newcomer's  philosophy  (if  one 
could  judge  from  his  previous  career)  was  "Me 
First." 

In  an  attempt  to  defraud  J.  P.  Morgan  &  Co., 
and  the  United  States  Steel  Corporation  Lamar 
had  once  impersonated  Representative  A.  Mit- 
chell Palmer  in  certain  telephone  interviews. 
(Palmer  became  custodian  of  alien  property  after 

1  McGarrity,  Keating,  and  O'Leary,  upon  the  publication  of 
this  despatch,  uttered  vigorous  denials  of  any  connection  with 
or  knowledge  of  the  despatch  or  the  affairs  mentioned. 


Labor  173 

the  United  States  entered  the  war. )  He  was  con- 
victed and  sentenced  to  two  years'  imprisonment 
in  Atlanta  Penitentiary.  He  appealed  the  case, 
and  while  he  was  out  on  bail  pending  the  appeal, 
he  fell  in  with  Rintelen. 

In  April,  191 5,  a  New  Yorker  who  dealt  in  pub- 
licity was  introduced  to  Rintelen,  or  "Hansen," 
by  Dr.  Schimmel.  Rintelen  offered  the  publicity 
man  $25,000  to  conduct  a  campaign  of  propa- 
ganda for  more  friendly  relations  with  Germany, 
to  offset  the  commercial  power  Great  Britain  bade 
fair  to  have  at  the  end  of  the  war,  and  assured 
him  that  he  would  go  to  any  extreme  to  prevent 
shipments  of  munitions  to  the  Allies.  The  war, 
he  said,  would  be  decided  not  in  Europe  but  in 
America.  There  must  be  strikes  in  the  munitions 
factories. 

When  the  publicity  man  heard  also  that  Rin- 
telen was  trying  to  stir  up  trouble  with  Mexico, 
he  wrote  on  May  13  to  Joseph  Tumulty,  Presi- 
dent Wilson's  secretary,  informing  him  of  the 
German's  intentions.  He  was  referred  to  the 
Department  of  Justice,  and  at  their  dictation  con- 
tinued in  contact  with  Rintelen.  Shortly  there- 
after David  Lamar  and  his  friend  Henry  Martin 
took  a  trip  to  Minneapolis,  where  they  met  Con- 
gressman Frank  Buchanan  and  Ex-Congressman 
Robert  Fowler,  both  of  Illinois.     Out  of  that  con- 


174     The  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

f erence  grew  a  plan  for  forming  a  labor  organiza- 
tion the  object  of  which  was  ostensibly  peace,  and 
actually  an  embargo  upon  the  shipment  of  muni- 
tions abroad,  but  whether  Buchanan  and  Fowler 
knew  of  von  Rintelen's  connection  with  the 
scheme  remains  to  be  proved.  It  can  be  readily 
seen  that  such  a  labor  organization,  if  it  had  ac- 
tually represented  organized  labor,  could  have 
forced  such  a  stoppage,  either  by  its  collective 
potential  voting  power  and  influence,  or  by  fos- 
tering a  nation-wide  strike  of  munitions  workers. 

The  nucleus  formed  in  Chicago,  about  one 
William  F.  Kramer.  "Buchanan  and  Fowler 
came  to  me  in  June  here  in  Chicago,"  said 
Kramer,  "and  told  me  about  their  plan  to  form  a 
council.  We  opened  headquarters,  and  we  en- 
gaged two  organizers,  James  Short  and  J.  J.  Cun- 
diff,  who  got  $50  a  week  apiece,  a  secretary,  L.  P. 
Straube,  who  got  $50  a  week,  and  a  stenographer. 
I  was  a  vice-president,  but  I  didn't  get  anything. 
We  were  known  then  as  Labor's  Peace  Council  of 
Chicago,  and  we  were  supposed  to  be  in  it  because 
of  our  convictions  against  the  shipment  of  muni- 
tions. And  I'll  say  that  organized  labor  was 
made  the  goat." 

Buchanan  had  no  idea  of  restricting  the  coun- 
cil to  one  city.  He  called  upon  Samuel  Gompers, 
head  of  the  American  Federation  of  Labor,  at 


Labor  175 

Atlantic  City  on  June  9  and  tried  to  induce  him 
to  back  a  movement  in  Washington  for  an  em- 
bargo. Gompers  refused  flatly  and  completely 
to  have  anything  to  do  with  the  plan,  especially 
when  Buchanan  made  known  his  associates. 
Those  associates  were  busy  meanwhile  lobbying 
in  Congress,  representing  themselves  as  friends 
of  organized  labor,  and  pressing  the  embargo 
question.  About  a  week  later  Congressman  Bu- 
chanan inflated  the  Chicago  organization  into 
Labor's  National  Peace  Council,  with  headquar- 
ters at  Washington,  to  recommend  the  convoca- 
tion of  a  special  session  of  Congress  at  once  to 
"promote  universal  peace,"  which  meant  simply 
"to  promote  the  introduction  and  enactment  of  an 
embargo."  Its  members  met  frequently,  and  an- 
noyed the  President  and  other  important  men, — 
even  Andrew  Carnegie, — with  their  importunings 
for  attention,  and  got  exactly  what  they  wanted — 
wide  publicity. 

About  July  10  Andrew  D.  Meloy,  whose  office 
in  New  York  Rintelen  was  sharing  at  the  time, 
noticed  that  his  German  associate  began  to  keep 
a  clipping-file  of  news  of  the  Council.  Meloy 
learned  of  the  project,  and  assured  Rintelen  that 
he  was  foolhardy  to  attempt,  by  bribery  of 
labor  officials,  to  divert  common  labor  from  earn- 
ing  high   wages.     To    which    Rintelen   replied 


176     The  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

brusquely :     "Thanks.     You  come  into  this  busi- 
ness about  1 1 :45  o'clock." 

Rintelen  sent  a  telegram  to  Lamar  in  Chicago 
on  July  1 6,  the  text  of  which  follows: 

"E.  Ruskay,  Room  700  B,  Sherman  Hotel,  Chicago. 

"Party  who  receives  $12,500  monthly  from  competi- 
tors is  now  interfering  with  business  in  hand.  Do  you 
know  of  any  way  and  means  to  check  him?    Wire. 

"F.  Brown." 

"Ruskay"  was  Lamar.     Later  in  the  day  the 
German  sent  this  message: 

"Twelve  thousand  five  hundred  now  at  capitol.  Con- 
ference here  today  plans  to  guarantee  outsiders  and  settle- 
ment possible  within  few  days.  New  issue  urgently 
needed.     Notify  B." 

The  "party"  mentioned  in  the  first  despatch 
was  the  code  designation  for  Gompers,  and  he 
was  indicated  in  the  second  message  as  "Twelve 
thousand  five  hundred."  "B"  was  Buchanan, 
upon  whose  connection  with  labor  Rintelen  told 
Meloy  the  success  of  the  plan  rested.  Lamar 
hurried  to  New  York,  arriving  July  19,  and  met 
Rintelen  in  a  limousine  at  the  looth  Street  en- 
trance to  Central  Park;  on  the  ride  which  fol- 
lowed the  "Wolf"  told  Rintelen  that  a  strike  then 
going  on  among  the  munitions  workers  at  Bridge- 
port was  "only  a  beginning  of  his  efforts,"  and 


Labor  177 

that  within  thirty  days  the  industry  would  be 
paralyzed  throughout  the  country.  Meloy  ad- 
vanced the  information  that  Gompers  had  just 
gone  to  Bridgeport  to  stop  the  strike,  to  which 
Lamar  replied: 

''Buchanan  will  settle  Gompers  within  twenty- 
four  hours!" 

The  clippings  kept  coming  in  as  testimony  to 
the  vigorous  work  being  done  by  the  organiza- 
tion's press  bureau :  the  Council  attacked  the  Fed- 
eral Reserve  Banks  as  "munitions  trusts,"  it  cited 
on  July  8  nine  ships  lying  in  port  awaiting  muni- 
tions cargoes,  and  attacked  Dudley  Field  Malone, 
then  Collector  of  the  Port  of  New  York,  for  per- 
mitting such  ships  to  clear;  it  claimed  to  repre- 
sent a  million  labor  votes,  and  four  million  and  a 
half  farmers ;  it  listened  eagerly  to  an  address  by 
Hannis  Taylor,  a  disciple  of  the  late  warm- 
hearted Secretary  of  State,  Mr.  Bryan,  in  which 
,Taylor  criticized  President  Wilson  and  was 
roundly  cheered  by  the  German-American  ele- 
ment in  the  audience.  Semi-occasionally  during 
the  midsummer  heat  Charles  Oberwager,  attor- 
ney for  the  Council  (whose  firm  had  received 
handsome  fees  from  von  Papen),  rose  to  deny 
any  German  connection  with  the  organization. 
The  Council  assailed  Secretary  Lansing  as  a  man 
*'whose  radicalism  was  liable  to  plunge  this  nation 


178     Tlie  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

into  war."  The  Council  assailed,  in  fact,  any 
project  which  furthered  the  interests  of  the 
Allies.  Rintelen  began  to  have  his  doubts  of  the 
effectiveness  of  Lamar's  work.  The  bank  ac- 
count in  the  Trans-Atlantic  Trust  Company  had 
dwindled  from  $800,000  to  $40,000,  and  Rintelen 
admitted  that  his  transactions  with  Lamar  cost 
him  several  hundred  thousand  dollars.  Labor's 
National  Peace  Conference  died  quietly,  Lamar 
flitted  away  to  a  country  estate  at  Pittsfield, 
Mass.,  and  Rintelen  started  across  the  Atlantic 
Ocean. 

August  wore  on.  The  Council  was  getting 
ready  for  a  second  gaseous  session,  when  Milton 
Snelling,  a  representative  of  the  Washington 
Central  Labor  Union,  who  had  been  elected  a  first 
vice-president  of  the  Council,  withdrew  from  its 
membership,  because  he  "discovered  persons  par- 
ticipating in  the  meetings  who  have  been  hanging 
on  the  fringe  of  the  labor  movement  for  their  own 
personal  aggrandizement,  men  who  have  been 
discarded  .  .  .  others  never  having  been  mem- 
bers of  any  organization  of  labor,"  and  because 
Jacob  C.  Taylor,  the  cigar-making  delegate  from 
East  Orange,  N.  J.,  said,  in  answer  to  a  query  as 
to  the  Council's  purpose :  *'We  want  to  stop  the 
export  of  munitions  to  the  Allies.  You  see  Ger- 
many can  make  all  the  munitions  she  wants." 


Labor  179 

Then — and  it  may  be  coincidence — about  one 
week  later  the  Neiv  York  World  began  its  pubH- 
cation  of  certain  of  the  papers  found  in  the  brief 
case  which  Dr.  Heinrich  Albert,  of  the  German 
Embassy,  allowed  to  escape  him  on  a  New  York 
elevated  train;  on  August  19  Buchanan  resigned 
the  Council,  and  Taylor  was  elected  to  succeed 
him. 

Indictments  were  returned  against  Rintelen,  as 
well  as  against  Lamar,  Martin,  Buchanan  and 
their  associates,  on  December  28,  191 5.  Bu- 
chanan at  once  exploded  with  a  retaliatory  de- 
mand for  the  impeachment  of  United  States  Dis- 
trict Attorney  Marshall,  upon  which  Congress 
dared  not  take  action.  Marshall  gracefully  re- 
tired from  the  trial  in  May,  191 6,  lest  he  preju- 
dice the  Government's  case,  and  Lamar,  Martin 
and  Rintelen  were  convicted  of  infraction  of  the 
Sherman  Anti-Trust  Law  and  sentenced  to  one 
year  each  in  a  New  Jersey  prison.  Thus  ended 
Labor's  National  Peace  Council,  thanks  to  David 
Lamar. 

The  project  for  an  embargo  looked  attractive 
to  the  Embassy,  however — so  attractive  that 
while  the  Coimcil  was  at  the  height  of  its  activ- 
ity, Baron  Kurt  von  Reiswitz  wrote  on  July  22, 
1915,  from  Chicago  to  Dr.  Albert: 

''Everything  else  concerning  the  proposed  em- 


180     The  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

bargo  conference  you  will  find  in  the  enclosed 
copy  of  the  report  to  the  Ambassador.  A  change 
has,  however,  come  up,  as  the  mass  meeting  will 
have  to  be  postponed  on  account  of  there  being 
insufficient  time  for  the  necessary  preparations. 
It  will  probably  be  held  there  in  about  two  weeks. 

"Among  others  the  following  have  agreed  to 
cooperate:  Senator  Hitchcock,  Congressman 
Buchanan,  William  Bayard  Hale  of  New  York 
and  the  well  known  pulpit  orator,  Dr.  Aked  (born 
an  Englishman),  from  San  Francisco. 

"Hitchcock  seemed  to  be  very  strong  for  the 
plan.  He  told  our  representative  at  a  conference 
in  Omaha:  'If  this  matter  is  organized  in  the 
right  way  you  will  sweep  the  United  States.' 

"For  your  confidential  information  I  would 
further  inform  you  that  the  leadership  of  the 
movement  thus  far  lies  in  the  hands  of  two  gen- 
tlemen (one  in  Detroit  and  one  in  Chicago)  who 
are  firmly  resolved  to  work  toward  the  end  that 
the  German  community,  which,  of  course,  will  be 
with  us  without  further  urging,  shall  above  all 
things  remain  in  the  background,  and  that  the 
movement,  to  all  outward  appearances,  shall  have 
a  purely  American  character.  I  have  known  both 
the  gentlemen  very  well  for  a  long  time  and  know 
that  personal  interest  does  not  count  with  them ; 
the  results  will  bring  their  own  reward. 


Labor  181 

"For  the  purposes  of  the  inner  organization,  to 
which  we  attribute  particular  importance,  we 
have  assured  ourselves  of  the  cooperation  of  the 
local  Democratic  boss,  Roger  C.  Sullivan,  as  also 
Messrs.  Sparman,  Lewis  and  McDonald,  the  lat- 
ter of  the  Chicago  American.  Sullivan  was  for- 
merly leader  of  the  Wilson  campaign  and  is  a 
deadly  enemy  of  Wilson,  as  the  latter  did  not 
keep  his  word  to  make  him  a  Senator ;  therefore, 
principally,  the  sympathy  of  our  cause." 

One  is  inclined  to  wonder  where  Rintelen's 
vast  credits  went,  during  his  short  visits  in  1915- 
Lamar  took  a  goodly  sum,  as  we  have  seen;  the 
negotiations  for  the  purchase  of  the  Krag  rifles 
cost  him  no  small  amount;  his  ship  bomb  activi- 
ties required  a  considerable  payroll.  But  as  fur- 
ther evidence  of  the  high  cost  of  causing  trouble, 
we  must  consider  briefly  the  profligate  methods 
he  employed  in  other  attempts  to  inflame  and 
seduce  labor. 

A  walkout  by  the  longshoremen  of  the  Atlantic 
coast  would  cripple  the  supply  of  munitions  to 
Europe,  and  might  be  successful  enough  to  cause 
a  shell  famine  in  France  of  which  the  Central 
Powers  could  readily  take  advantage.  There 
were  23,000  dock-workers  in  American  ports; 
they  must  be  guaranteed  a  certain  wage  for  five 
weeks  of  strike;  the  cost  in  wages  alone  would 


182     The  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

therefore  amount  to  about  $1,635,000,  besides 
service  fees  to  intermediaries.  He  had  the 
money,  and  the  first  step  was  taken  in  the  other- 
wise placid  city  of  Boston. 

On  May  7,  191 5,  the  day  the  Liisitania  sank, 
WilHam  P.  Dempsey,  the  secretary-treasurer  of 
the  Atlantic  Coast  International  Longshoremen's 
Union,  met  Dennis  Driscoll,  a  Boston  labor 
leader  and  former  city  office-holder,  at  the  old 
Quincy  House  in  Hanover  Street.  Driscoll  said 
that  Matthew  Cummings,  a  wealthy  Boston  gro- 
cer, had  outlined  to  him  the  plan  for  the  strike, 
and  said  he  was  acting  for  parties  who  were  will- 
ing to  pay  a  million  dollars.  Dempsey  main- 
tained his  poise  when  the  startling  information 
was  recited,  but  he  was  frightened,  and  at  the 
conclusion  of  the  interview  he  telegraphed  at  once 
to  T.  V.  O'Connor,  the  president  of  the  union,  re- 
questing an  interview.  The  two  union  men  met 
in  Albany  and  discussed  the  affair  pro  and  con, 
arriving  at  the  conclusion  that  they  had  best  re- 
veal the  plot  to  the  Government.  O'Connor  ac- 
cordingly told  of  the  negotiations  to  Secretary 
Wilson  of  the  Department  of  Labor,  and  then  in 
connivance  with  the  Secret  Service,  went  on  deal- 
ing with  the  grocer,  constantly  pressing  him  for 
the  identity  of  the  principals  who,  he  said,  were 
prepared  to  supply  all  the  necessary  money.     He 


Labor  183 

implicated  George  Sylvester  Viereck,  the  editor 
of  a  subsidized  German  propaganda-weekly  called 
The  Fatherland,  and  said  that  he  had  been  in- 
troduced to  him  by  Edmund  von  Mach.  Neither 
of  those  men  figured  except  as  intermediaries, 
and  Cummings  suggested  that  Dr.  Bernhard 
Dernburg,  a  loyal  propagandist  then  in  the 
United  States,  was  the  director  of  the  enterprises. 
Owing  to  the  high  pitch  of  public  feeling  over  the 
Lusitania,  Cummings  could  not  receive  permis- 
sion from  his  superiors  to  go  ahead  with  O'Con- 
nor, but  he  did  his  best  to  keep  O'Connor  inter- 
ested. The  latter,  fearing  that  German  agents 
were  at  work  on  the  Pacific  coast,  took  a  trip  to 
the  far  West,  and  during  his  absence  Cummings 
telegraphed  him  twice.  There  the  affair  ended, 
for  O'Connor  ignored  the  message,  and  on  July  14 
returned  to  New  York  to  find  that  a  German  at- 
tempt to  force  a  walkout  on  the  New  York  water- 
front had  failed,  and  that  Cummings  had  stopped 
playing  with  fire  and  had  gone  back  to  his  gro- 
cery in  Boston. 

When  the  Government  turned  the  story  over  to 
a  newspaper  to  publish  on  September  13,  the  time 
was  not  ripe  to  fix  the  responsibility  for  the  at- 
tempt. Dr.  Dernburg  was  a  popular  scapegoat 
at  the  time,  and  the  implication  of  his  authority 
in  the  attempt  was  allowed  to  stand.     Rintelen 


184     The  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

was  in  Donington  Hall,  a  prison  camp  in  Eng- 
land, and  it  was  months  thereafter  before  the 
United  States  and  British  Secret  Services  had 
fully  compared  notes  on  him.  By  that  time  there 
were  other  charges  lying  against  him  which  prom- 
ised better  cases  than  an  abortive  attempt  to  pro- 
mote a  strike  'longshore. 

We  have  witnessed  the  cumulative  influence  of 
newspaper  reports  in  surrounding  Labor's  Na- 
tional Peace  Council  with  an  almost  genuine 
atmosphere  of  national  interest;  w^e  have  been 
able  to  picture  the  hostility  which  the  publication 
of  the  longshoremen's  strike  story  aroused  in 
legitimately  organized  labor;  and  although  as  a 
typical  instance  of  newspaper  influence  we  should 
postpone  the  following  incident,  it  is  a  temptation 
too  great  to  resist.  It  is  the  story  of  The  Story 
That  Cost  an  Ambassador,  and  if  any  further 
plea  for  its  introduction  be  needed,  let  it  be  that 
it  is  another  subtle  attempt  upon  labor  in  the 
summer  of  191 5. 

James  F.  J.  Archibald,  an  American  corre- 
spondent who  had  seen  most  of  the  wars  of  re- 
cent years,  and  who  wanted  to  see  more,  set  sail 
from  New  York  on  August  21,  191 5,  for  Amster- 
dam, with  his  wife,  his  campaign  clothes,  and  a 
portfolio.     At    Falmouth,    England,    the    usual 


Dr.  Constantin  Dumba,  Austrian  ambassador  to  the  United 
States,  recalled  after  the  disclosures  of  the  correspon- 
dence captured  on  the  war  correspondent,  Archibald 


Labor  185 

search  party  came  aboard,  and  inspected  the 
papers  in  the  portfoHo.  Archibald  proved  to  be 
an  unofficial  despatch-bearer,  upon  whom  his  Ger- 
man and  Austrian  acquaintances  in  the  United 
States  placed  great  reliance — such  men  as  Papen, 
Bernstorff,  and  Dr.  Constantine  Dumba  sent  re- 
ports to  their  governments  in  his  care. 

On  September  5  the  Nezu  York  World  burst 
forth  with  the  text  of  one  of  the  letters — one 
from  Dr.  Dumba,  the  Austro-Hungarian  ambas- 
sador at  Washington,  to  his  chief  in  the  foreign 
office  at  Vienna,  Baron  Burian.  It  is  worth  re- 
producing here  intact : 

"New  York,  August  20." 
*' Your  Excellency : 

"Yesterday  evening  Consul-General  von  Nuber  re- 
ceived the  enclosed  aide  memoire  from  the  chief  editor 
of  the  local  influential  paper  Sz'abadsag,  after  a  previous 
conversation  with  me  in  pursuance  of  his  verbal  propos- 
als to  arrange  for  strikes  at  Bethlehem  in  Schwab's  steel 
and  munitions  factory  and  also  in  the  middle  West. 

"Archibald,  who  is  well  known  to  your  Excellency, 
leaves  today  at  12  o'clock  on  board  the  Rotterdam  for 
Berlin  and  Vienna.  I  take  this  rare  and  safe  opportunity 
of  warmly  recommending  these  proposals  to  your  Ex- 
cellency's favorable  consideration.  It  is  my  impression 
that  we  can  disorganize  and  hold  up  for  months,  if  not 
entirely  prevent,  the  manufacture  of  munitions  in  Beth- 
lehem and  the  middle  West,  which,  in  the  opinion  of  the 


186     The  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

German  military  attache,  is  of  great  importance  and 
amply  outweighs  the  comparatively  small  expenditure  of 
money  involved. 

"But  even  if  strikes  do  not  occur  it  is  probable  that  we 
should  extort  under  pressure  more  favorable  conditions 
of  labor  for  our  poor  downtrodden  fellow  countrymen  in 
Tethlehem.  These  white  slaves  are  now  working  twelve 
hours  a  day,  seven  days  a  week.  All  weak  persons  suc- 
cumb and  become  consumptive.  So  far  as  German  work- 
men are  found  among  the  skilled  hands  means  of  leaving 
will  be  provided  immediately  for  them. 

"Besides  this,  a  private  German  registry  office  has  been 
established  which  provides  employment  for  persons  who 
voluntarily  have  given  up  their  places.  It  already  is 
working  well.  We  shall  also  join  in  and  the  widest  sup- 
port is  assured  us. 

"I  beg  your  Excellency  to  be  so  good  as  to  inform  me 
with  reference  to  this  letter  by  wireless.  Reply  whether 
you  agree.     I  remain,  with  great  haste  and  respect, 

"DUMBA." 

The  aide  memoire,  written  by  the  editor  of  a 
Hungarian  weekly,  proposed  to  create  unrest  by 
a  campaign  in  foreign  language  newspapers  cir- 
culated free  to  labor,  muck-raking  labor  condi- 
tions in  Bethlehem,  Youngstown,  Cleveland, 
Pittsburg,  and  Bridgeport,  where  there  were 
great  numbers  of  foreign  workmen,  Hungarians, 
Austrians,  and  Germans.  This  was  to  be  sup- 
plemented by  a  "horror  novel"  similar  to  the 
bloody  effort  of  Upton  Sinclair  to  describe  the 


Labor  187 

Chicago  stockyards.  Special  agents  of  unrest, 
roll-turners,  steel  workers,  soapbox  orators,  pic- 
nic organizers,  were  all  to  be  insinuated  into  the 
plants  to  stir  up  the  workmen.  This  editor  had 
stirred  them  up  a  few  weeks  before  at  Bridge- 
port— the  strike  which  Lamar  claimed  as  his  own 
accomplishment — and  he  presented  to  Baron 
Burian  a  really  comprehensive  plan  for  creating 
unrest  through  his  well-subsidized  foreign-lan- 
guage press.  And  in  passing  it  on,  Dr.  Dumba 
stood  sponsor  for  it. 

The  British  government  saw  in  the  discovery  of 
the  letter  and  the  cool  impudence  of  it,  a  rare 
chance  for  propaganda  in  America.  So,  as  has 
been  said,  the  World  published  the  story,  and  at 
once  the  wrath  of  the  truly  American  people  jus- 
tified President  Wilson  in  doing  what  he  and  Sec- 
retary Lansing  had  already  determined  to  do — to 
send  Dr.  Dumba  home.  Perhaps  Dumba's  refer- 
ence to  the  "self-willed  temperament  of  the  Presi- 
dent" in  another  note  found  on  Archibald  had 
something  to  do  with  the  haste  with  which  the 
Ambassador's  recall  was  demanded;  it  followed 
on  the  heels  of  the  publication  of  the  letter : 

"By  reason  of  the  admitted  purpose  and  intent  of  Mr. 
Dumba  to  conspire  to  cripple  legitimate  industries  of  the 
United  States  and  to  interrupt  their  legitimate  trade,  and 
by  reason  of  the  flagrant  violation  of  diplomatic  propriety 


188     The  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

in  employing  an  American  citizen  protected  by  an  Ameri- 
can passport  as  a  secret  bearer  of  official  despatches 
through  the  lines  of  the  enemy  of  Austria-Hungary,  the 
President  directs  us  to  inform  your  Excellency  that  Mr. 
Dumba  is  no  longer  acceptable  to  the  Government  of  the 
United  States  as  the  Ambassador  of  his  Imperial  Majesty 
at  Washington." 

So  went  Dumba. 

After  his  departure  Baron  Zwiedinek,  his 
charge  d'affaires,  and  Consul  von  Nuber  adver- 
tised widely  in  Hungarian  newspapers  calling  on 
Austrians  and  Hungarians  at  work  in  munitions 
plants  to  leave.  If  they  M^rote  the  Embassy  on 
the  subject,  the  reply  they  received  read: 

"It  is  demanded  that  patriotism,  no  less  than  fear  of 
punishment,  should  cause  every  one  to  quit  his  work  im- 
mediately." 

But  neither  threats,  nor  walking  delegates,  nor 
German  spies  could  check  the  output  of  shells  and 
guns.  An  attempt  made  by  Dr.  Albert  to  buy, 
for  $50,000,  a  strike  in  Detroit  motor  factories 
failed.  The  factories  were  making  money  as 
they  had  never  made  money  before,  and  labor 
was  buying  luxuries.  To  the  American  muni- 
tions-worker a  comfortable  supply  of  money 
meant  much  more  than  the  shrill  bleat  of  the  Cen- 
tral Powers.  And  what  was  more,  he  w^as  not 
entirely  satisfied  that  the  right  was  all  on  Ger- 


Labor  189 

many's  side.  (Our  space  does  not  permit,  nor 
is  definite  information  at  present  available,  to  dis- 
cuss the  anarchist,  socialist,  and  I.  W.  W.  ele- 
ments of  labor,  and  their  relations  to  Germany. 
These  three  factors,  especially  the  last  named,  ef- 
fected in  the  years  1914-1918  a  sufficient  amount 
of  industrial  unrest  to  qualify  them  as  allies,  if 
not  actual  servants,  of  the  Kaiser.  Whether 
they  were  employed  by  Germany  will  be  brought 
out  in  a  trial  which  began  in  Chicago  in  April, 

1918.) 


CHAPTER  XIII 

THE   SINKING   OF   THE   LUSITANIA 

The  mistress  of  the  seas — Plotting  in  New  York — The 
Liisitania's  escape  in  February,  1915 — The  advertised 
warning — The  plot — May  7,  191 5 — Diplomatic  corre- 
spondence— Gustave  Stahl — The  results. 

In  the  eyes  of  the  German  Admiralty  the 
Lusitania  was  the  symbol  of  British  supremacy  on 
the  seas.  There  were  larger  ships  flying  the 
Prussian  flag,  but  one  of  them  lay  in  her  German 
harbor,  the  other  at  her  Little-German  pier  in 
Hoboken,  while  the  Lusitania  swept  gracefully 
over  the  Western  Ocean  as  she  regally  saw  fit, 
leaving  only  a  thin  trail  of  smoke  for  the  sluggish 
undersea  enemy  to  follow.  Time  and  again  dur- 
ing the  early  months  of  war  the  plotters  in  Berlin 
had  attempted  her  destruction,  and  every  time 
she  had  slipped  away — until  the  last,  when  the 
plot  was  developed  on  American  soil. 

Her  destruction  would  carry  home  to  Germany 
news  of  heartening  influence  out  of  all  proportion 
to  the  mere  sinking  of  a  large  single  tonnage. 
The  German  visible  navy  had,  with  the  exception 
of  scattering  excursions  into  the  North  Sea,  and 

190 


The  Sinking  of  the  Lusitania  191 

the  swiftly  quenched  efforts  of  the  South  Atlantic 
fleet,  been  of  negligible — and  irksome — conse- 
quence. To  sink  the  mistress  of  the  British  mer- 
chant fleet  would  be  to  inform  all  the  world  that 
Britain  was  incapable  of  protecting  her  cargo  and 
passenger  vessels,  to  puncture  the  comfortable 
British  boast  of  the  moment  that  business  was 
being  performed  "as  usual,"  and  to  gratify  the 
blood-letting  instincts  of  the  Junkers.  So  von 
Tirpitz,  with  his  colleagues,  undertook  to  sink  the 
Lusitania,  and  to  warn  neutrals  to  travel  in  their 
own  ships  or  stay  ashore. 

Early  in  December,  1914,  the  German  agents 
who  met  nightly  at  the  Deutscher  Verein  in  Cen- 
tral Park  South  speculated  on  ways  and  means  of 
bringing  down  this  attractive  quarry.  Commun- 
ication between  Berlin  and  New  York  at  that 
time  was  as  facile  as  a  telephone  conversation 
from  the  Battery  to  Harlem.  There  were  new 
iio-kilowatt  transmitters  in  the  German-owned 
Sayville  wireless  station,  imported  through  Hol- 
land and  installed  under  the  expert  supervision  of 
Captain  Boy- Ed,  and  memoranda  issued  in  Berlin 
to  the  naval  attache  were  frequently  the  subject  of 
guarded  conversation  in  the  German  Club  within 
a  few  hours  after  they  had  left  the  Wilhelm- 
strasse.  Occasionally  the  conspirators  found  it 
more  tactful   to  drive  through  the   Park   in  a 


192     The  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

limousine  during  the  evening,  to  discuss  the  pro- 
ject. Spies  had  made  several  trips  to  Liverpool 
and  back  again  a1)oard  the  ship,  under  false  pass- 
ports, and  Paul  Koenig's  waterfront  henchmen 
supplied  all  necessary  information  of  the  guard 
maintained  at  the  piers.  All  this  was  passed  up 
to  the  clearing-house  of  executives,  and  their 
plans  began  to  take  shape. 

Boy-Ed  possessed  a  copy  of  the  secret  British 
Admiralty  code,  which  explained  his  frequent 
trips  to  Sayville.  He  knew — and  Tirpitz's  staff 
therefore  knew — the  position  of  any  British  ves- 
sel at  sea  which  had  occasion  to  utter  any  mes- 
sage into  the  air.  But  before  he  conceived  a  use 
for  this  code  other  than  as  a  source  of  informa- 
tion, he  decided  to  try  out  a  code  of  his  own. 

He  arranged  with  Berlin  a  word-system  whose 
theory  was  popular  with  Germany  throughout  the 
earlier  years  of  her  secret  war  communication: 
under  the  guise  of  apparently  harmless  expres- 
sions of  friendship,  or  grief,  or  simple  business, 
were  transmitted  quite  definite  and  specific  secret 
meanings.  A  message  addressed  by  wireless 
from  the  Liisitania  to  a  friend  in  England  which 
read  for  example  "Eager  to  see  you.  Much  love" 
would  scarcely  arouse  suspicion,  especially  as 
there  was  no  word  in  it  which  might  suggest  mili- 
tary information.     Yet  in  February,  191 5,  a  mes- 


The  Sinking  of  the  Lusitania  193 

sage  of  that  type  was  despatched  from  the  east- 
ward-bound Lusitania  to  a  British  station ;  it  was 
intercepted  and  interpreted  by  a  German  sub- 
marine commander  in  the  **zone"  nearby,  who 
presently  popped  up  in  the  ship's  wake  and  fired 
a  torpedo.  His  information  was  better  than  his 
aim.  The  Lusitania  dodged  the  steel  shark,  and 
fled  to  safety,  her  wireless  informing  the  British 
naval  world  meanwhile  of  the  presence  of  the 
U-boat. 

The  plotters  had  to  reckon  with  her  unequalled 
speed.  The  Lusitania  and  her  sister  ship,  the 
Mauretania,  had  each  rather  prided  herself  in  the 
past  on  reducing  the  other's  fresh,  bright  passage- 
record  from  Queenstown  to  New  York — a  record 
of  four  days  and  a  few  hours !  The  submarine  of 
T915  knew  no  such  speed,  and  it  was  necessary,  if 
the  liner  was  to  be  torpedoed,  to  select  out  of  the 
vastness  of  the  ocean  one  little  radius  in  which  the 
submarine  might  lie  in  wait  for  a  pot-shot.  But 
just  how  ? 

Spies  had  reported  that  it  was  customary  as  the 
Lusitania  neared  the  Irish  coast  on  her  homeward 
voyage  for  her  captain  to  query  the  British  Ad- 
miralty for  instructions  as  to  where  her  convoy 
might  be  expected.  They  reported  that  under 
certain  conditions  German  agents  might  be  placed 
on  board.     And  they  reported  that  the  wireless 


194     The  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

operator  was  susceptible  to  bribery.     Those  three 
facts  formed  the  nucleus  of  the  final  plan. 

Audacious  as  they  were  in  their  use  of  Ameri- 
can soil  as  the  base  for  their  plans,  the  German 
Embassy  had  certain  obligations  to  the  United 
States  Government,  which  they  felt  must  be  ob- 
served. The  unspeakable  falsifying  which  is 
sometimes  called  expediency,  sometimes  diplo- 
macy, required  that  official  America  must  know 
nothing  of  the  intentions  of  which  the  Embassy 
itself  was  fully  conversant  and  approving.  Fur- 
ther, a  palliative  must  be  supplied  to  the  American 
people  in  advance.  Consequently  Count  von 
Bernstorff,  under  orders  from  Berlin,  inserted  in 
the  New  York  Times  of  April  23,  19 15,  the  fol- 
lowing advertisement : 

NOTICE 

Travelers  intending-  to  embark  on  the  Atlantic  voyage 
are  reminded  that  a  state  of  war  exists  between  Germany 
and  her  Alhes  and  Great  Britain  and  her  AlHes ;  that  the 
zone  of  war  includes  the  waters  adjacent  to  the  British 
Isles ;  that  in  accordance  with  formal  notice  given  by  the 
German  Imperial  Government,  vessels  flying  the  flag  of 
Great  Britain  or  any  of  her  Allies  are  liable  to  destruc- 
tion in  these  waters  and  that  travelers  sailing  in  the  war 
zone  on  ships  of  Great  Britain  or  her  Allies  do  so  at  their 

own  risk.  -r  ^  -c       .  ^^  , 

Imperial  German  Embassy. 

Washington,  D.  C,  April  22d,  191 5. 


OCEAN  TRAVEL 

NOTICE! 

TRAVELLERS  intending  to 
embark  on  the  Atlantic  voyage 
1 1  are  reminded  that  a  state  of 
war  exists  between  Germany 
and  her  allies  and  GreatBritain 
and  her  allies;  that  the  zone  of| 
war  includes  the  waters  adja- 
cent  to  the  British  Isles;  that, 
I  in  accordance  with  formal  no- 
Itice  given  by  the  Imperial  Ger- 
man Government,  vessels  fly- 
ing the  flag  of  Great  Britain,  or 
ofanyof  her  aliies,are  liable  to 
destruction  in  those  waters  and 
that  travellers  sailing  in  the 
war  zone  on  ships    of    Great 
Britain  or  her  allies  do  so  at 
their  own  risk.  \ 

IMPERIAL  GERMAN  EMBASSY 


The  newspaper  advertisement  inserted  among 
"ocean  travel"  advertising  by  the  Im- 
perial Genr.an  Embassy  prior  to 
the  Lusitania's  departure  on 
what  proved  to  be  her 
last  voyage 


The  Sinking  of  the  Lusitania         195 

Germans  in  New  York  who  knew  of  the  plot 
dropped  hints  to  their  friends ;  anonymous  warn- 
ings were  received  by  several  passengers  who  had 
booked  their  accommodations;  Alfred  Gwynne 
Vanderbilt  received  such  a  message,  signed 
"Morte."  But  such  whispers  were  common,  the 
Lusitania  had  outrun  the  submarines  before  and 
could  presumably  do  it  again;  further,  most 
Americans  at  that  moment  had  some  confidence 
left  in  civilization. 

The  plot  was  substantially  this:  when  Captain 
Turner,  on  the  last  day  of  the  voyage,  should  send 
his  wireless  query  to  the  Admiralty,  inquiring  for 
his  convoy  of  destroyers,  a  wireless  reply  in  the 
British  code  directing  his  course  must  be  sent  to 
him  from  Sayville.  His  query  would  be  heard 
and  answered  by  the  Admiralty,  of  course,  but  the 
genuine  reply  must  not  reach  him. 

Berlin  assigned  two  submarines  to  a  point  ten 
miles  south  by  west  of  the  Old  Head  of  Kinsale, 
near  the  entrance  to  St.  George's  Channel.  She 
selected  an  experienced  commander  for  the  espe- 
cial duty,  and  with  him  went  a  secret  agent  to 
shadow  him  as  he  opened  his  sealed  instructions, 
and  shoot  him  if  he  balked.  And  about  the  time 
when  the  U-boats  slipped  out  of  the  Kiel  Canal, 
and  threaded  their  way  through  the  mine-fields 
into  the  North  Sea,  submerging  as  they  picked  up 


196     Tlie  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

the  smoke  of  British  ships  on  the  western  horizon, 
the  Lusitania  warped  out  of  her  pier  in  the  Hud- 
son River  and  set  her  prow  for  Sandy  Hook,  the 
Grand  Banks,  and  Ireland. 

She  carried  1,254  passengers  and  a  crew  of 
eight  hundred,  a  total  of  more  than  2,000  souls, 
of  whom  1,214  were  sailing  to  their  death.  Ger- 
many had  selected  their  graves ;  von  Rintelen  had 
two  friends  aboard  who  were  detailed  to  flash 
lights  from  the  portholes  in  case  the  ship  made  the 
submarine  rendezvous  at  night.  The  Litsitania 
carried  bombs  which  Dr.  Karl  Schimmel  placed  on 
board;  she  carried  bombs  which  wretched  little 
Klein  placed  on  board;  she  carried,  too,  the  crea- 
ture who  was  to  betray  her.  Her  company  was 
gay  enough,  and  interesting;  besides  Mr.  Vander- 
bilt  her  passenger  list  included  Charles  Frohman, 
the  most  important  of  theatrical  managers;  El- 
bert Hubbard,  a  quaint  and  lovable  writer-arti- 
san; Charles  Klein,  a  playwright;  Justus  Miles 
Forman,  a  novelist ;  and  numerous  others  of  more 
or  less  celebrity,  among  them  an  actress  who  lived 
to  reenact  her  part  in  the  tragedy  for  the  benefit 
of  herself  and  a  motion  picture  company.  Ruth- 
less as  it  was,  the  Lusitania  also  carried  Lindon 
W.  Bates,  Jr.,  a  youth  whose  family  had  be- 
friended von  Rintelen.  And  there  were  the 
women  and  children. 


The  Sinking  of  the  Lusitania  197 

Meanwhile,  Sayville  was  in  readiness,  a  trained 
wireless  operator  prepared  at  any  moment  to  hear 
Captain  Turner's  inquiry,  and  to  tiash  a  false  re- 
ply with  a  perfect  British  Admiralty  touch.  On 
May  5  Captain  Boy-Ed  received  word  from  Ber- 
lin that  he  had  been  awarded  the  Iron  Cross.  On 
May  7  the  Lusitania  spoke:  Captain  Turner's 
request  for  instructions.  Presently  the  reply 
came,  and  was  hurried  to  his  cabin.  From  his 
code  book  he  deciphered  directions  to  "proceed 
to  a  point  ten  miles  south  of  Old  Head  of  Kinsale 
and  thence  run  into  St.  George's  Channel,  ar- 
riving at  the  Liverpool  bar  at  midnight."  He 
carefully  calculated  the  distance  and  his  running 
time  on  the  assumption  that  he  was  protected  on 
every  side  by  the  British  fleet,  and  set  his  course 
for  the  Old  Head  of  Kinsale. 

The  British  Admiralty  also  received  Captain 
Turner's  inquiry,  just  as  the  Sayville  operator  had 
snatched  it  from  the  air,  and  despatched  an  an- 
swer :  orders  that  the  Lusitania  proceed  to  a  point 
some  70  or  80  miles  south  of  the  Old  Head  of 
Kinsale,  there  to  meet  her  convoy.  Captain 
Turner  never  received  that,  message.  The 
British  Government  knows  v/hy  the  message  was 
not  delivered,  though  the  fact  has  not,  at  this  date, 
been  made  public. 

The  Lnsitania  headed  northeast  all  mornine. 


198     The  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

At  1 :20  o'clock  she  ran  the  gauntlet  of  two  sub- 
marines; a  torpedo  was  released,  and  found  its 
target.  The  ghastly  details  of  what  followed 
have  been  told  so  fully,  so  vividly,  and  so  appeal- 
ingly  that  they  need  not  be  repeated  here.  They 
made  themselves  heard  around  a  world  that  was 
already  vibrant  with  uproar.  The  first  sodden 
tremor  of  the  ship  told  Captain  Turner  that  he 
had  been  betrayed.  He  described  later  at  the  Cor- 
oner's inquest  how  he  had  received  orders  sup- 
posedly from  the  Admiralty,  and  had  set  out  to 
o1)ey  them.  He  produced  the  copy  of  those  or- 
ders, but  of  the  genuine  message  from  the  Ad- 
miralty he  knew  nothing.  Asked  if  he  had  made 
special  application  for  a  convoy,  he  said:  ''No, 
I  left  that  to  them.  It  is  their  business,  not  mine. 
I  simply  had  to  carry  out  my  orders  to  go,  and  I 
would  do  it  again." 

America  was  in  a  turmoil.  Germany  nad 
presumed  too  far;  she — it  is  almost  incongruous 
to  call  Germany  ''she" — had  believed  that  her 
warning  declaration  that  the  waters  about  the 
British  isles  were  a  war  zone  would  be  respected, 
or  if  not  respected,  would  serve  as  an  excuse,  and 
that  the  torpedoing  would  be  accepted  calmly  by 
America.  She  was  not  prepared  for  Colonel 
Roosevelt's  burning  denunciation  of  this  act  of 
common  piracy,  nor  for  the  angry  editorial  re- 


The  Sinking  of  the  Lusitania  199 

monstrance  of  a  people  outraged  at  the  loss  of  one 
hundred  and  fourteen  American  lives.  But  Ger- 
many recovered  her  presumptuous  poise  swiftly, 
and  while  ugly  medals  were  being  struck  off  com- 
memorating the  German  triumph  over  the  ship, 
and  while  destroyers  were  still  searching  British 
waters  for  the  bodies  of  the  dead,  she  sent  a  note 
of  commiseration  and  sympathy  to  Washington, 
Three  days  later — on  May  13 — the  United  States 
conveyed  to  Berlin  a  strong  protest  against  the 
submarine  policy  which  had  culminated  in  the 
sinking  of  the  Lusitania.  Three  days  before 
Germany  replied  on  May  28,  a  submarine  attacked 
an  American  steamer,  the  Nebraska,  and  the  Im- 
perial government  followed  up  its  first  reply  with 
a  supplementary  note  justifying  its  previous  at- 
tacks upon  the  American  vessels  Gidflight  and 
Gushing.     Germany's  fat  was  in  the  fire. 

A  German  editor  in  the  United  States  had  the 
effrontery  to  announce  that  American  ships  would 
be  sunk  as  readily  as  the  Lusitania.  Secretary 
Bryan,  of  the  Department  of  State,  at  that  time 
a  confirmed  pacifist,  resigned  his  post  on  June 
8,  thus  drawing  the  sting  of  a  second  and  sharper 
protest  which  went  forward  to  Germany  the  next 
day.  To  this  the  Foreign  Office  replied  on  July  8 
that  American  ships  would  be  safe  in  the  sub- 
marine zone  under  certain  conditions,  and  the 


200     The  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

President  on  July  21  rejected  this  diplomatic  sop 
as  "very  unsatisfactory."  Count  von  Bernstorff 
finally  announced,  on  September  i,  that  German 
submarines  would  sink  no  more  liners  without 
warning,  and  his  government  ratified  his  promise 
a  fortnight  later.  The  promise  was  at  best  a 
quibble,  and  it  in  no  way  restricted  undersea 
depredations  upon  commerce  and  human  life. 
After  the  Liisitania  affair  followed  the  Leelanaw, 
the  Arabic,  and  the  Hesperian  and  on  February 
16,  1 91 6,  Germany  acknowledged  her  liability  for 
the  Liisitania' s  destruction — the  day  after  Secre- 
tary Lansing  declared  the  right  of  commercial 
vessels  to  arm  themselves  in  self-defense,  and  five 
days  before  the  Crown  Prince  began  the  ten- 
months'  battle  of  Verdun. 

The  published  correspondence  of  the  State  De- 
partment gives  in  detail  the  negotiations  regard- 
ing maritime  relations,  a  record  of  Imperial  hy- 
pocrisy which  indicates  clearly  the  desire  and  in- 
tention of  the  Germans  to  retain  their  submarine 
warfare  at  any  cost.  There  is  not  space  here  to 
brief  the  papers,  nor  any  great  need,  for  it  was 
the  Liisitania  which  dictated  the  tone  and  outcome 
of  the  correspondence,  and  which  brought  the 
United  States  rudely  face  to  face  with  the  cruel 
facts  of  war. 

In  spite  of  these  facts,  Germany  employed  her 


The  Sinlwig  of  the  Lusitania         201 

agents  in  desperate,  devious  and  futile  attempts  to 
gloss  over  the  crime.  Relatives  of  those  who  had 
drowned  were  persuaded  by  agents  (one  of  them 
was  "a  lawyer  named  Fowler,  now  under  Federal 
indictment  on  another  count")  to  sue  the  Cunard 
Line  for  damages  for  having  mounted  guns  on  the 
liner,  thus  making  her  liable  to  attack.  Paul 
Koenig  paid  a  German,  Gustave  Stahl,  of  Ho- 
boken,  to  swear  to  an  affidavit  that  he  had  seen 
guns  on  the  ship ;  this  affidavit  was  forwarded  by 
Captain  Boy-Ed  on  June  i,  to  Washington,  and 
had  a  wide  temporary  effect  upon  public  senti- 
ment until  Stahl  was  convicted  of  perjury  and 
sentenced  to  i8  months  in  Atlanta.  It  was 
Koenig  who  hid  Stahl  where  neither  the  police 
nor  the  press  could  find  him  after  he  made  his 
statement,  and  it  was  Koenig  who,  at  the  com- 
mand of  the  Federal  authorities,  produced  him. 
It  was  Rintelen  who  dined  on  the  night  of  the 
tragedy  at  the  home  of  one  of  the  victims ;  it  was 
Rintelen  who  received  the  news  with  a  mild  ex- 
pression of  regret  because  "he  had  two  good  men 
aboard." 

Tactically  Germany  had  attained  her  objec- 
tives ;  her  submarines  had  obeyed  orders  and  sunk 
a  liner.  vStrategically  Germany  had  made  a  gross 
miscalculation ;  recruiting  in  England  took  a  pro- 
nounced rise,  the  Admiralty  was  shocked  into  re- 


202     The  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

doubled  vigilance,  the  United  States  instead  of 
swallowing  the  affront  complicated  the  question 
of  the  freedom  of  the  seas  beyond  all  untangling 
except  by  force  of  arms,  and  beside  the  word 
"Belgium"  on  the  calendar  of  crime  the  w^orld 
wrote  the  word  ''Lusitania,"  as  equally  typical 
of  the  warfare  of  the  Hun. 


CHAPTER  XIV 

COMMERCIAL    VENTURES 

German  law  in  America— Waetzoldt's  reports — The 
British  blockade— A  report  from  Washington — Stopping 
the  chlorine  supply — Speculation  in  wool — Dyestuffs  and 
the  Deutschland — Purchasing  phenol — The  Bridgeport 
Projectile  Company — The  lost  portfolio — The  recall  of 
the  attaches — A  summary  of  Dr.  Albert's  efforts. 

In  addition  to  the  exercise  of  its  diplomatic 
functions,  now  more  important  than  they  had 
ever  been  before,  the  German  Embassy  had  as- 
sumed the  burden  of  large  commercial  enter- 
prises. Their  execution  was  entrusted  to  Dr.  Al- 
bert, the  privy  councillor  and  fiscal  agent  for  the 
Empire.  There  was  apparently  no  limit,  either 
financial  or  territorial,  to  the  scope  of  his  efforts, 
and  the  fact  that  he  was  able  to  administrate  such 
a  volume  of  work  is  no  small  tribute  to  his  zeal. 
But  that  very  zeal  outran  his  regard  for  Ameri- 
can law,  so  in  one  of  his  earlier  ventures  he  set 
out  to  substitute  the  law  of  the  Empire  for  that 
of  the  nation  to  which  he  was  accredited. 

Dr.  Albert  was  informed  on  March  lo,  191 5,  by 

203 


204     The  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

a  German  lawyer,  S.  Walter  Kaufmann  of  60 
Wall  Street,  that  his  clients,  the  Orenstein- 
Arthur  Keppel  Company,  had  an  order  for  9,000 
tons  of  steel  rails  to  be  shipped  to  Russia,  despite 
instructions  from  the  company's  home  office  in 
Berlin  that  "no  orders  should  be  accepted  for  ship- 
ment to  any  country  at  war  with  Germany,  be- 
cause of  Paragraph  89  of  the  Gesetz  Buch."  The 
Gesetz  Buch  is  the  German  Penal  Code.  (One 
of  Kauf mann's  law  partners  was  Norvin  R.  Lind- 
heim,  legal  adviser  to  Germany's  agents  in  the 
United  States.)  The  manufacturers  begged  the 
permission  of  the  Embassy  to  accept  the  order  and 
pass  the  actual  manufacture  on  to  the  United 
States  Steel  Compan}^  in  order  to  evade  the  let- 
ter of  Paragraph  89,  and  in  order  ''to  delay  the 
order,  if  that  would  in  any  way  be  desirable." 
The  matter  was  neglected  in  the  Embassy,  and  on 
July  13  the  Orenstein-Arthur  Keppel  Company 
wrote  from  Keppel,  Pa.,  to  the  German  consul, 
Philadelphia,  Dr.  George  Stobbe,  again  asking 
permission  to  accept  the  order.  The  consul  re- 
plied, denying  permission,  on  the  ground  that  the 
shipment  would  facilitate  the  Russian  transport 
of  troops,  and  that  such  action  would  be  within 
the  meaning  of  Paragraph  89  of  the  Gesetz  Buch. 
''That  you  are  in  position  to  delay  the  delivery  of 
the  order,  to  the  prejudice  of  the  hostile  country 


Commercial  Ventures  205 

ordering,  in  no  way  makes  you  less  punishable," 
he  continued.  He  forwarded  a  copy  of  his  ruling 
to  the  Ambassador  for  approval,  and  it  in  turn 
was  forwarded  to  Dr.  Albert.  The  order  was  not 
taken;  the  fear  of  punishment  by  Germany  was 
greater  than  the  protection  afforded  by  American 
Law. 

The  foregoing  episode  reveals  the  nature  of  Dr. 
Albert's  chief  problem — the  financial  blocking  of 
supplies  for  the  Allies.  Let  Boy-Ed  destroy  the 
ships,  von  Papen  dynamite  the  factories  and  rail- 
ways, Rintelen  run  his  mad  course  of  indiscrim- 
inate violence — the  smooth  financial  agent  would 
undertake  only  those  great  business  ventures  in 
which  his  shrewdness  and  experience  could  have 
play.  He  was  receiving  reports  constantly  on  the 
economic  status,  and  the  following  extract  from  a 
report  from  G.  D.  Waetzoldt,  a  trade  investigator 
in  the  Consulate  in  New  York,  will  illustrate  the 
German  frame  of  mind   about  midsummjcr  of 

*'The  large  war  orders,  as  the  professional 
journals  also  print,  have  become  the  great  means 
of  saving  American  business  institutions  from 
idleness  and  financial  ruin. 

"  The  fact  that  institutions  of  the  size  and  in- 
ternational influence  of  those  mentioned  could  not 
find  sufficient  regular  business  to  keep  them  to 


206     The  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

some  extent  occupied,  half  at  least,  throws  a  harsh 
light  upon  the  sad  condition  in  which  American 
business  would  have  found  itself  had  it  not  been 
for  the  war  orders.  The  ground  which  induced 
these  large  interests  to  accept  war  orders  rests 
entirely  upon  an  economical  basis  and  can  be  ex- 
plained by  the  above-mentioned  conditions  which 
were  produced  by  the  lack  of  regular  business. 
These  difficulties,  resulting  from  the  dividing  up 
of  the  contracts,  are  held  to  have  been  augmented, 
as  stated  in  business  circles,  by  the  fact  that  cer- 
tain agents  working  in  the  German  interest  suc- 
ceeded in  further  delaying  and  disturbing  Ameri^ 
can  deliveries.  .  .  . 

"So  many  contracts  for  the  production  of  picric 
acid  have  been  placed  that  they  can  only  be  filled 
to  a  very  small  part." 

Dr.  Albert  also  received  a  report  from  another 
trade  expert,  who  had  had  a  long  conference  with 
ex-Senator  John  C.  Spooner  of  Wisconsin  as  to 
whether  or  not  there  could  be  prosecutions  under 
the  Sherman  Anti-Trust  Law  against  British  rep- 
resentatives because  of  the  restrictions  placed 
by  the  British  Government  upon  dealings  by 
Americans  in  certain  copper,  cotton  and  rubber. 

Naturally  one  of  the  most  vital  problems  that 
stirred  Dr.  Albert  was  the  British  Orders  in 
Council   blockading   Germany,    from   which   re- 


Commercial  Ventures  207 

suited  the  seizure  of  meat  and  food  supplies  and 
cotton  by  British  war  vessels.  He  was  always 
on  the  alert  for  information  of  the  attitude  of  the 
Administration  and  the  people  of  the  United 
States  toward  the  blockade.  In  another  report 
dated  June  3,  191 5,  Waetzoldt  said: 

'There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  British  Gov- 
ernment will  bring  into  play  all  power  and  pres- 
sure possible  in  order  to  complete  the  total  block- 
ade of  Germany  from  her  foreign  markets,  and 
that  the  Government  of  the  United  States  will  not 
make  a  strenuous  effort  to  maintain  its  trade  with 
Germany.  .  .  . 

"It  has  been  positively  demonstrated  during 
this  time  that  the  falling  off  of  imports  caused  by 
the  war  in  Europe  will  in  the  future  be  principally 
covered  by  American  industry.  .  .  . 

"The  complete  stopping  importation  of  German 
products  will,  in  truth,  to  a  limited  extent,  espe- 
cially in  the  first  part  of  the  blockade,  help  the 
sale  of  English  or  French  products,  but  the  dam- 
age which  will  be  done  to  us  in  this  way  will  not  be 
great.  .  .  . 

"The  Lusitania  case  did,  in  fact,  give  the  Eng- 
lish efforts  in  this  direction  a  new  and  powerful 
impetus,  and  at  first  the  vehemence  with  which 
the  Anti-German  movement  began  anew  awak- 
ened serious  misgivings,  but  this  case  also  will 


208     The  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

have  a  lasting  effect,  which,  unless  fresh  compli- 
cations arise,  we  may  be  able  to  turn  to  the  advan- 
tage of  the  sales  of  German  goods.  .  .  . 

"The  war  will  certainly  have  this  effect,  that 
the  American  business  world  will  devote  all  its 
energy  toward  making  itself  independent  of  the 
importation  of  foreign  products  as  far  as  pos- 
sible. .  .  . 

"If  the  decision  is  again  brought  home  to  Ger- 
man Industry  it  should  not  be  forgotten  what  po- 
sition the  United  States  took  with  reference  to 
Germany  in  this  war.  Above  all,  it  should  not 
be  forgotten  that  the  'ultimate  ratio'  of  the  United 
States  is  not  the  war  with  arms,  but  a  complete 
prohibition  of  trade  with  Germany,  and  in  fact, 
through  legislation.  That  was  brought  out  very 
clearly  and  sharply  In  connection  with  the  still 
pending  negotiations  regarding  the  Lusifania 
case." 

That  Dr.  Albert  used  secret  and  perhaps  de- 
vious means  to  secure  his  information  is  revealed 
by  an  unsigned  confidential  report  which  he  re- 
ceived under  most  mysterious  circumstances  con- 
cerning an  Interview  by  a  man  referred  to  as  "M. 
P."  with  President  Wilson  and  Secretary  Lan- 
sing. The  person  who  wrote  of  "the  conversa- 
tion" on  July  23,  191 5,  with  "Legal  Agent"  Levy 


Commercial  Ventures  209 

and  Mr.  John  Simon  does  not  give  his  name.  A 
striking  part  of  this  conversation  follows : 

"hevy  advises  regarding  a  conference  with 
M.  P.  Thereafter  M.  P.  saw  Lansing  as  well  as 
Wilson.  He  informed  both  of  them  that  an 
American  syndicate  had  approached  him  which 
had  strong  German  relations.  This  syndicate 
wishes  to  buy  up  cotton  for  Germany  in  great 
style,  thereby  to  relieve  the  cotton  situation,  and  at 
the  same  time  to  provide  Germany  with  cotton." 
(Dr.  Albert  attempted,  with  a  suitable  campaign 
of  press  and  political  propaganda,  to  inflame  the 
Southern  planters  over  the  British  embargo  on 
cotton.)  "The  relations  of  the  American  syndi- 
cate with  Germany  are  very  strong,  so  that  they 
might  even  possibly  be  able  to  influence  the  posi- 
tion of  Germany  in  the  general  political  question. 
M.  P.  therefore  asked  for  a  candid,  confidential 
statement  in  order  to  make  clear  not  only  his  own 
position,  but  also  necessarily  the  political  oppor- 
tunity. The  result  of  the  conversation  was  as 
follows : 

"i.  The  note  of  protest  to  England  will  go  in 
any  event  whether  Germany  answers  satisfactor- 
ily or  not. 

"2.  Should  it  be  possible  to  settle  satisfactorily 
the  Lusitania  case,  the  President  will  bind  him- 


210     The  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

self  to  carry  the  protest  against  England  through 
to  the  uttermost. 

"3.  The  continuance  of  the  difference  with  Ger- 
many over  the  Liisitania  case  is  'embarrassing' 
for  the  President  in  carrying  out  the  protest 
against  England.  .  .  . 

"4.  A  contemplated  English  proposal  to  buy 
cotton  in  great  style  and  invest  the  proceeds  in 
America  would  not  satisfy  the  President  as  an 
answer  to  the  protest.  .  .  . 

"5.  The  President,  in  order  to  ascertain  from 
Mr.  M.  P.  how  strong  the  German  influence  of 
this  syndicate  is,  would  like  to  have  the  trend  of 
the  German  note  before  the  note  is  officially  sent, 
and  declares  himself  ready,  before  the  ansv/er  is 
drafted,  to  discuss  it  with  M.  P.,  and  eventually  to 
so  influence  it  that  there  will  be  an  agreement  for 
its  reception,  and  also  to  be  ready  to  influence  the 
press  through  a  wink. 

"6.  As  far  as  the  note  itself  is  concerned,  v/hich 
he  awaits,  so  he  awaits  another  expression  of  re- 
gret, which  was  not  followed  in  the  last  note. 
Regret  together  with  the  statement  that  nobody 
had  expected  that  human  lives  would  be  lost  and 
that  the  ship  would  sink  so  quickly. 

"y.  The  President  is  said  to  have  openly  de- 
clared that  he  could  hardly  hope  for  a  positive 


Commercial  Ventures  211 

statement  th^.t  the  submarine  warfare  would  be 
discontinued." 

Dr.  Albert  conferred  with  Captains  Boy-Ed 
and  von  Papen  on  all  military  and  naval  matters 
having  a  commercial  phase.  Captain  von  Papen, 
on  July  7,  1915,  submitted  to  Dr.  Albert  a  memo- 
randum for  his  consideration  and  further  recom- 
mendation, headed  "Steps  Taken  to  Prevent  the 
Exportation  of  Liquid  Chlorine."  He  told  of  the 
efforts  made  by  England  and  France  to  buy  that 
chemical  in  America,  estimated  the  output  here, 
and  cited  the  manufacturers.  He  also  enclosed  a 
plan  for  checkmating  the  Allies  and  concluded 
with  the  following  paragraph : 

"It  will  be  impossible,  however,  for  this  to  go 
on  any  length  of  time,  as  the  shareholders  wish 
the  profits  to  be  derived  therefrom.  Dr.  Oren- 
stein  therefore  suggests  that  an  agreement  be  con- 
summated with  the  Electro  Bleaching  Company, 
through  the  President,  Kingslc}^,  whereby  the  de- 
livery of  liquid  chlorine  by  this  country  to  France 
and  England  will  be  stopped.  A  suggested  plan 
is  enclosed  herewith. 

"From  a  military  standpoint  I  deem  it  very  de- 
sirable to  consummate  such  an  agreement,  in  or- 
der to  stop  thereby  the  further  exportation  of 
about  fifty-two  tons  of  liquid  chlorine  monthly, 


212     The  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

especially  in  view  of  the  fact  that  in  France  there 
is  only  one  factory  (Rouen)  which  can  produce 
this  stuff  in  small  amounts,  while  it  is  only  pro- 
duced in  very  small  quantities,  in  England." 

During  1914  and  191 5  German  speculation  in 
wool  was  active.  Early  in  the  war  von  Berns- 
torff  summoned  a  German-American  wool  mer- 
chant recommended  by  a  business  friend  in  Ber- 
lin and  directed  him  to  buy  all  the  wool  he  could 
secure.  Ele  did  so,  using  Deutsches  Bank  credits 
for  the  purchases  made  for  Germany,  and  mak- 
ing his  purchases  of  wool  for  Germany  even  in 
Cape  Town  and  Australia.  The  German-Amer- 
ican, after  following  this  practice  for  some 
months,  decided  that  his  fmancial  allegiance  be- 
longed to  America,  so  he  tried,  through  lingo 
Schmidt,  to  induce  the  German  interests  in  his 
firm  to  sell  out  to  him.  On  August  9,  191 5, 
Schmidt  wrote  to  Keswig,  the  Berlin  principal : 

''Your  friend  here  has  inquired  in  London,  and 
he  offers  no  matter  what  price  may  be  realizable 
in  London  at  that  time  to  take  over  the  wool  from 
you  at  the  original  price,  in  which  case  you  would 
naturally  pay  all  the  expenses,  which  are  esti- 
mated to  be  about  6  per  cent.  As  you  see,  it  is  not 
so  simple  to  deal  with  your  friends." 

The  German-American's  offer  meant  a  good 
profit  to  him,  as  the  London  price  of  wool  at  that 


Commercial  Ventures  213 

time  had  advanced  nearly  15  per  cent.  Yet  he 
apparently  fell  into  no  ill  favor  with  Berlin,  for 
in  June,  19 16,  the  German  Foreign  office  wrote 
von  Bernstorff : 

"Interested  parties  here  have  repeatedly  made 
representations  for  preferential  treatment  of  the 
firm  of  Forstmann  &  Huffman  in  Passaic,  N.  J., 
in  connection  with  shipment  of  coal  tar  dyes  to 
the  United  States  of  America.  Since  this  pure 
German  firm,  as  is  well  known  on  your  side,  un- 
dertook last  year  the  wool  supply  for  Germany, 
and  therefore  claim  it  has  been  especially  badly 
treated  by  England,  it  is  most  respectfully  recom- 
mended to  Your  Excellency,  should  there  be  no 
reason  to  the  contrary,  to  arrange  for  the  great- 
est possible  consideration  for  this  firm  in  the  later 
distribution  of  the  shipments  to  consumers  which 
now  are  in  prospect." 

Necessity,  the  mother  of  invention,  had  forced 
America's  production  of  coal-tar  derivatives  and 
dyestuffs  upward  enormously  during  the  first  year 
of  war.  As  the  British  blockade  tightened,  the 
German  supply,  which  had  long  constituted  the 
world  supply,  was  cut  off  completely.  The  value 
of  dyestuffs  in  America  increased  enormously 
from  1914  to  1915.  Germany  witnessed  this 
growth  with  apprehension,  and  realized  gravely 
that  export  expansion  would  follow  increased 


214     The  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

and  perfected  production  in  America,  which  it 
promptly  did.  German  chemical  interests  in- 
volved in  a  drug-  house  familiar  with  the  German 
market,  have  testified  that  their  firm  ''paid  three 
times  the  value"  of  a  cargo  of  dyestufifs  shipped 
from  Bremen  to  Baltimore  in  1916  in  the  huge 
undersea-boat  Deutschland,  "which  paid  for  the 
ship  and  cargo."  Her  sister  ship,  the  Bremen, 
which  set  forth  for  America,  but  never  arrived, 
was  also  "built  with  money  furnished  by  the  dye- 
stuiT  manufacturers,"  according  to  Ambassador 
Gerard. 

The  Deutschland  herself  was  300  feet  long, 
with  a  cargo  capacity  of  some  800  tons.  She 
docked  at  the  Xorth  German  Lloyd  piers  in  Balti- 
more, and  after  loading  a  cargo  of  rubber  and 
nickel,  took  an  opportune  moment  one  foggy  twi- 
light to  cast  off  and  slip  out  to  sea.  She  not  only 
returned  safely  to  Germany  but  made  another 
round  trip  to  America,  putting  in  the  second  time 
at  New  London.  She  was  at  sea  about  three 
weeks  on  each  crossing  of  the  Atlantic. 

Dr.  Albert  made  plans  for  buying  up  carbolic 
acid  to  prevent  it  from  reaching  the  Allies.  Dr. 
Hugo  Schweitzer,  a  German-American  chemist 
of  New  York,  paid  down  $100,000  cash  on  June 
3,  191 5,  to  the  American  Oil  &  Supply  Company 
in  New  Jersey  as  part  payment  of  $1,400,000  for 


Commercial  Ventures  215 

1,212,000  pounds  of  carbolic  acid,  of  which  the 
American  Oil  &  Supply  Company  had  directed 
the  purchase  from  Thomas  A.  Edison.  Dr. 
Schweitzer  said  that  he  bought  the  liquid  not  to 
prevent  it  from  falling  into  the  hands  of  the  Al- 
lies but  to  use  in  the  manufacture  of  medical  sup- 
plies. 

Not  the  least  interesting  of  Dr.  Albert's  finan- 
cial experiences  is  that  which  conceived  and  bore 
the  Bridgeport  Projectile  Company.  In  a  con- 
ference early  in  191 5  in  the  offices  of  G.  Amsinck 
&  Co.,  in  New  York,  Count  von  Bernstorff  came 
to  the  conclusion  that  one  way  to  prevent  the  ship- 
ment of  munitions  to  the  enemy  was  to  monopo- 
lize the  industry,  or  at  least  to  control  it  financially 
as  far  as  possible.  Dr.  Albert  made  an  unsuc- 
cessful attempt  to  buy  the  Union  Metallic  Car- 
tridge plant  for  $17,000,000.  He  chose  as  his 
lieutenants  for  his  next  task  Hugo  Schmidt,  the 
New  York  representative  of  the  Deutsches  Bank, 
and  Karl  Heynen,  whose  past  record  had  been 
auspicious,  as  agent  for  Mexico  of  the  Hamburg- 
American  Line.  Heynen  it  was  who  had  smug- 
gled a  cargo  of  arms  ashore  for  Huerta  at  Vera 
Cruz,  under  the  nose  of  the  American  fleet;  he 
had  received  some  40,000  pesos  (Mexican)  for 
the  coup,  and  he  was  regarded  as  a  capable  indi- 
vidual.    On  March  31,  1915,  the  Bridgeport  Pro- 


216     The  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

jectile  Company  was  incorporated  for  $2,000,000, 
paid  in,  with  Walter  Knight  as  president,  Heynen 
as  treasurer,  and  Karl  Foster  as  secretary  and 
counsel. 

Schmidt  drew  up  a  contract  with  the  new-born 
company  calling  for  a  large  order  of  shells.  On 
May  17  Heynen  reported  to  Albert  that  534  hy- 
draulic presses  for  making  shells  of  calibres  2.95 
to  4.8  had  been  ordered,  and  would  cost  $417,550. 
These  orders,  with  all  others  for  tools  and  ma- 
chinery which  the  Bridgeport  company  placed, 
were  so  well  concealed  about  the  business  world 
that  as  late  as  August  the  impression  was  current 
that  Great  Britain  was  financing  the  company. 
On  June  30  Heynen  reported  to  Albert  through 
Schmidt  that  the  first  shell  cases  would  be  manu- 
factured under  United  States  government  inspec- 
tion, in  order  to  create  the  impression  that  the 
company  was  anxious  for  American  contracts, 
and  so  that  immediate  delivery  could  be  made  in 
case  such  contracts  were  actually  secured.  "The 
most  important  buildings,  forges,  and  machine 
shops,  are  almost  under  roof;  the  other  buildings 
are  fairly  under  way ;  presses,  machinery  and  all 
other  materials  are  being  promptly  assembled, 
and  there  is  every  indication  that  deliveries  will 
commence  as  provided  in  the  contract;  i.  e.,  on 
Sept.  1st,  1915." 


Commercial  Ventures  217 

The  Bridgeport  Projectile  Company  contracted 
with  the  /Etna  Powder  Company,  one  of  the 
largest  producers  of  explosives  in  America,  for 
its  entire  output  up  to  January,  191 6,  and  then 
turned  round  and  offered  the  Spanish  government 
a  million  pounds  of  powder.  The  Spanish  repre- 
sentatives may  have  suspected  the  identity  of  the 
company,  for  they  raised  certain  objections  to  the 
contract,  to  which  Heynen  refused  to  listen,  and 
he  also  reported  to  his  superiors  that  British  and 
Russian  purchasing  agents  were  going  to  call  on 
him  within  a  few  days.  He  made  a  contract  with 
Henry  Disston  &  Co.  for  two  million  pieces  of 
steel,  most  of  them  tools,  for  which  Schmidt  ad- 
vanced the  money.  He  contracted  with  the  Cam- 
den Iron  Works  of  Camden,  N.  J.,  for  presses, 
and  posted  a  forfeit  of  $165,000  in  case  the  con- 
tract should  l)e  cancelled ;  the  contract  was  signed 
and  cancelled  the  next  day  by  the  Bridgeport 
company,  causing  the  Camden  concern  great  busi- 
ness difficulty. 

Thus,  by  the  manipulation  of  contracts,  Dr.  Al- 
bert and  his  associates  were  accomplishing  the 
following  ends : 

I.  Arranging  to  supply  Germany  with  shells 
and  powder  (as  soon  as  smuggling  could  be  ef- 
fected) at  a  time  when  official  Germany  was  at- 
tempting to  persuade  the  United  States  to  place 


218     TJie  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

an  embargo  on  the  shipment  of  war  materials  to 
the  AlHes. 

2.  Securing  a  monopoly  on  all  powder  avail- 
able. 

3.  So  tying  up  the  machinery  and  tool  manu- 
facturers that  all  their  production  for  months  to 
come  was  under  contract  to  the  Bridgeport  Pro- 
jectile Company,  yet  so  wielding  the  cancellation 
clauses  in  its  contracts  that  delivery  could  be  de- 
layed and  the  date  further  postponed  when  the 
manufacturers  of  machinery  and  tools  could  be 
free  to  take  Allied  orders. 

4.  Arranging  to  accept  contracts  for  the  United 
States  and  the  Allies  under  such  provisions  that 
there  would  be  no  impossible  forfeit  if  the  con- 
tracts could  not  be  fulfilled.  This  would  have  the 
effect  of  making  the  Allies  believe  that  they  were 
going  to  receive  supplies  which  the  Bridgeport 
Projectile  Company  had  no  intention  of  furnish- 
ing them. 

5.  Heynen,  by  the  contract  with  the  munitions 
industry,  which  his  work  afforded,  knew  where 
Allied  orders  for  shells  were  placed,  and  he 
learned  to  his  pleasure  that  the  Allies  were  being 
forced  to  contract  for  shrapnel  which  was  forged 
—  a  less  satisfactory  process  than  pressing.  He 
also  learned  that  the  first  two  orders  for  forged 


Commercial  Ventures  219 

shrapnel  placed  by  the  Allies  had  been  rejected 
because  the  product  was  inferior. 

6.  Paying  abnormal  wages  with  the  unlimited 
funds  at  its  disposal,  stealing  labor  from  the 
Union  Metallic  Cartridge  Company  in  Bridge- 
port, and  generally  unsettling  the  labor  situation. 

7.  Offering  powder  to  Spain,  a  neutral  with 
strong  German  aft'iliations. 

The  project  was  glorious  in  its  forecast.  But 
we  may  well  let  a  German  hand  describe  how  it 
failed;  among  the  papers  captured  by  the  British 
on  the  war  correspondent  and  secret  messenger 
Archibald  at  Falmouth  in  late  August  was  a  letter 
from  Captain  von  Papen  to  his  wife  in  Germany, 
in  which  he  said: 

*'Our  good  friend  Albert  has  been  robbed  of  a 
thick  portfolio  of  papers  on  the  elevated  road. 
English  secret  service  men  of  course."  (Papen 
was  not  altogether  correct  in  this  statement.) 
"Unfortunately,  some  very  important  matters 
from  my  report  are  among  the  papers,  such  as  the 
purchase  of  liquid  chlorine,  the  correspondence 
with  the  Bridgeport  Projectile  Company,  as  well 
as  documents  relating  to  the  purchase  of  phenol, 
from  which  explosives  are  manufactured,  and  the 
acquisition  of  Wright's  aeroplane  patents.  I 
send  you  also  the  reply  of  Albert,  in  order  that  you 


220     The  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

may  sec  how  we  protect  ourselves.     This  we  com- 
pounded last  night  in  collaboration."  ^ 

Dr.  Albert  could  hardly  have  chosen  a  more  un- 
fortunate set  of  documents  to  carry  about  with 
him  and  lose.  "Pitiless  publicity"  was  his  re- 
ward, and  the  statement  which  he  and  von  Papen 
prepared  in  refutation  and  denial  was  received  by 
those  in  authority  as  precisely  the  sort  of  denial 
which  any  unscrupulous  and  able  master  of  in- 
trigue might  be  expected  to  issue  under  the  cir- 
cumstances— and  no  more.  If  there  had  been 
any  doubt  of  the  perniciousness  of  his  activities 
— and  there  was  none — it  would  have  been  dis- 
pelled by  the  seizure  of  the  Archibald  letters,  but 
the  result  of  the  exposures  of  German  activity 
which  made  the  Nezu  York  World,  a  newspaper 
worth  watching  during  August  and  September, 
1915,  was  not  the  expulsion  of  Dr.  Albert,  but  of 
the  military  and  naval  attaches.  Albert,  while 
he  had  been  magnificently  busy  attempting  to  dis- 
turb America's  calm,  had  been  cunning  enough  to 
keep  his  hands  free  of  blood  and  powder  smoke ; 

1  The  captain  added:  "The  sinking  of  the  Adriatic"  (by 
whicli  he  meant  the  Arabic,  which  had  been  sunk  without  warn- 
ing on  August  19,  with  a  loss  of  sixteen  lives,  two  of  them 
American),  "may  be  the  last  straw  for  the  sake  of  our  cause. 
I  hope  the  matter  will  blow  over."  On  October  5  the  German 
Government,  consistent  with  its  assurance  of  September  i  that 
no  more  ships  would  be  sunk  without  warning,  disavowed  the 
sinking  of  the  Arabic,  and  offered  to  pay  indemnities.  So  the 
matter  "blew  over." 


Commercial  Ventures  221 

Boy-Ed  and  von  Papen  had  to  answer  for  the 
origination  of  so  many  crimes  that  it  is  ahnost 
incredible  in  the  light  of  later  events  that  they 
escaped  with  nothing  more  than  a  dismissal.  On 
December  4,  Secretary  Lansing  demanded  their 
recall  on  account  of  their  connection  "with  the 
illegal  and  questionable  acts  of  certain  persons 
within  the  United  States";  Bernstorff  made  no 
reply  for  ten  days,  and  received  a  sharp  reminder 
for  his  delay;  he  then  replied  that  the  Kaiser 
agreed  to  the  recall.  Four  days  before  Christ- 
mas von  Papen  sailed  for  England  and  Holland. 
On  January  2  and  3,  1916,  his  effects  were 
searched  by  the  British  at  Falmouth  and  two 
documents  among  others  found  may  be  cited  here. 
Boy-Ed  sailed  on  New  Year's  Day,  but  with 
no  incriminating  documents,  for  he  had  been 
warned. 

The  first  document  found  on  von  Papen  was  a 
letter  from  President  Knight  of  the  Bridgeport 
Projectile  Company,  dated  Sept.  11,  191 5,  ad- 
dressed to  Heynen  at  60  Wall  Street — the  build- 
ing in  which  von  Papen  had  his  office — giving 
certain  specifications  for  shells  that  were  being 
made  in  the  new  Bridgeport  plant ;  the  second  was 
a  memorandum  of  an  interview  on  December  21, 
between  Papen,  Heynen,  G.  W.  Hoadley  of  the 
affiliated  American-British  Manufacturing  Com- 


222     The  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

pany,  and  Captain  Hans  Tauscher.  The  four 
men  had  discussed  speciiications  for  a  time,  and 
had  agreed  that  firing  tests  of  the  projectiles 
could  be  made  "in  a  bomb-proof  place  by  electri- 
cal explosion."  Delays  in  production  at  Bridge- 
port are  evident  in  the  last  sentence  of  the  mem- 
orandum : 

"It  was  agreed  that  Mr.  Hoadley,  till  date,  has  com- 
plied with  all  the  conditions  of  the  contracts  of  the  ist 
April,  with  the  exception  of  the  commencement  of  the 
delivery  of  the  shells,  which  is  due  to  force  majeure,  i.  e., 
to  failure  to  timely  obtain  the  delivery  of  machinery  and 
tools  occasioned  by  strikes  in  the  machine  factories." 

A  letter  to  von  Papen  from  Dr.  Albert,  then  in 
San  Francisco,  undated  but  obviously  written  in 
December,  191 5,  contained  these  farewell  senti- 
ments : 

"Dear  Herr  von  Papen, 

"Well,  then !  How  I  wish  I  were  in  New  York  and 
could  discuss  the  situation  with  you  and  B.  E.  .  .  .  So 
Vv-e  shall  not  see  each  other  for  the  present.  Shall  we  at 
all  before  you  leave?  It  would  be  my  most  anxious 
wish ;  but  my  hope  is  small.  From  this  time,  I  suppose, 
matters  will  move  more  quickly  than  in  Dumba's  case. 
I  wonder  whether  our  Government  will  respond  in  a 
suitable  manner !  In  my  opinion  it  need  no  longer  take 
public  opinion  so  much  into  consideration,  in  spite  of  it 
being  artificially  and  intentionally  agitated  by  the  press 
and  the  legal  proceedings,  so  that  a  somewhat  'stififer'  at- 


Commercial  Ventures  223 

titude  would  be  desirable,  naturally  quiet  and  dignified ! 
.  .  .  Please  remember  me  to  your  chief  personally.  I 
assume  that  he  still  remembers  me  from  the  time  of  the 
'experimental  establishment  for  aircraft,'  and  give  my 
best  wishes  to  Mr.  Scheuch,  and  tell  him  that  the  struggle 
on  the  American  front  is  sometimes  very  hard.  .  .  . 
When  I  think  of  your  and  Boy-Ed's  departure,  and  that 
I  alone  remain  behind  in  New  York,  I  could — well, 
better  not ! " 

Perhaps  Dr.  Albert  would  have  accompanied 
the  attaches  had  not  the  submarine  situation  been 
so  acute.  For  while  the  Government  had  in  its 
possession  sufficient  provocation  for  his  dismissal, 
and  that  of  Count  von  Bernstorif  as  well,  the 
Government's  desire  at  that  time  was  peace,  and 
stubbornly,  patiently,  it  clung  to  its  ideal  in  a 
dogged  attempt  to  preserve  its  neutrality.  Dr. 
Albert  had  run  the  British  blockade  with  his  sup- 
plies for  Germany,  and  had  roared  protest  when 
Great  Britain  seized  cargoes  of  meat  intended  for 
Germany,  although  she  paid  the  packers  for  them 
in  full.  He  had  floated  a  German  loan  through 
Chandler  &  Company,  a  New  York  house  of 
which  Rudolph  Hecht,  one  of  his  agents,  was  a 
member ;  he  had  sold  $500,000,000  worth  of  Ger- 
man securities ;  to  sum  up  his  financial  activities, 
he  had  played  every  trick  he  knew,  and  his  last 
year  in  America  was  unfruitful  of  result,  for  he 


224     TJie  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

was  watched.  He  returned  to  Germany  person- 
ally enriched,  for  time  and  again,  prompted  by 
stock  tips  from  his  German  friends  on  stocks  or 
"September  lard,"  and  by  diplomatic  information 
which  he  knew  would  influence  the  stock  market, 
he  made  handsome  winnings  for  von  Bernstorff 
and  himself. 


CHAPTER  XV 

THE    PUBLIC    MIND 

Dr.  Bertling — The  Staats-Zeitung — George  Sylvester 
Viereck  and  The  Fatherland — Efiforts  to  buy  a  press  asso- 
ciation— Bernhardi's  articles — Marcus  Braun  and  Fair 
Play — Plans  for  a  German  news  syndicate — Sander, 
Wunnenberg,  Bacon  and  motion  pictures — The  German- 
American  Alliance — Its  purposes — Political  activities — 
Colquitt  of  Texas — The  "Wisconsin  Plan" — Lobbying — 
Misappropriation  of  German  Red  Cross  funds — Friends 
of  Peace — The  American  Truth  Society. 

Some  one  has  said  that  America  will  emerge 
from  this  war  a  gigantic  national  entity,  a  colos- 
sus wrought  of  the  fused  metal  of  her  scores  of 
mixed  nationalities.  That  is  naturally  desirable, 
and  historically  probable.  If  such  is  the  result, 
Germany  will  have  lost  for  all  time  one  of  her 
most  powerful  allies — the  German  population  in 
the  United  States.  Nearly  one-tenth  of  the  pop- 
ulation of  the  United  States  in  1914  was  of  either 
German  birth  or  parentage.  Ethnic  lines  are  not 
erased  in  a  generation  except  by  some  great  emer- 
gency, such  as  war  affords.  Germany  is  doomed 
to  a  deserved  disappointment  in  the  loss  of  her 

225 


226     The  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

American  stock — deserved  because  she  tried  so 
hard  to  Germanize  America. 

She  wasted  no  time  in  injecting  her  verbal 
propagandists  into  the  struggle  on  the  American 
front.  On  August  20,  19 14,  Dr.  Karl  Oskar 
Bertling,  assistant  director  of  the  Amerika  In- 
stitut  in  Berlin,  landed  in  New  York,  and  went 
at  once  to  report  to  von  Bernstorff.  The  Amer- 
ika Institut  had  of  recent  years  made  considerable 
progress  in  familiarizing  Germany  with  Ameri- 
can affairs;  its  chief  director,  Dr.  Walther 
Drechsler,  had  been  master  of  German  in  Mid- 
dlesex, a  prominent  boys'  school  in  Massachu- 
setts; he  returned  to  Berlin  in  1913  and  was 
attached,  upon  the  outbreak  of  war,  to  the 
press  office.  All  who  were  associated  with  it 
knew  something  of  America.  It  is  characteristic 
of  the  convertibility  of  German  institutions  to 
war  that  another  executive  of  this  organization, 
employed  in  peace  times  to  cement  the  friendship 
between  the  two  nations,  should  be  sent  on  the 
day  war  was  declared  to  America  to  establish  a 
German  press  bureau. 

Dr.  Bertling  went  about  delivering  pro-Ger- 
man speeches,  and  prepared  articles  for  the  press 
on  international  questions.  These  he  submitted 
to  Bernstorff  himself  for  approval — one  such 
story  was  to  be  published  in  a  Sunday  magazine 


The  Public  Mind  227 

supplement  to  a  long  "string"  of  American  news- 
papers. Although  every  editor  was  on  the  look- 
out for  any  "war  stuff"  which  was  written  with 
any  apparent  background  of  European  politics,  he 
found  small  market  for  his  wares  among  the  New 
York  newspapers,  and  some  of  his  speaking  dates 
were  cancelled.  He  proposed  to  publish,  with 
one  of  his  stories,  a  set  of  German  military  maps 
of  Belgium,  but  to  this  von  Papen  wrote  him  on 
November  21 :  "I  entirely  agree  with  you  in  your 
opinion  in  regard  to  the  maps — it  is  a  two-edged 
sword,"  and  he  added :  "One  observes  how  very 
ill-informed  the  average  American  is."  Bert- 
ling's  lack  of  accomplishment  drew  censure,  how- 
ever, from  several  sources :  the  head  of  the  Ger- 
man-American Chamber  of  Commerce  in  Berlin 
chided  him  for  not  having  carried  out  his  "spe- 
cial mission  to  supply  a  cable  service  to  South 
America  and  China,"  and  the  late  Professor  Hugo 
Muensterberg  of  Harvard  waxed  righteously  in- 
dignant over  the  fact  that  Bertling  opened  and 
read  a  letter  entrusted  by  the  psychologist  to  him 
for  safe  delivery  to  Dr.  Dernburg.  Bertling  ap- 
plied to  the  Embassy  for  special  employment,  and 
on  March  19,  191 5,  the  ambassador's  private  sec- 
retary wrote  him : 

"Plis  Excellency  is  entirely  agreeable  to  giving 
you  the  desired  employment,  but  he  considers  the 


228     TJie  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

present  conditions  too  uncertain,  as  his  departure 
for  Germany  in  the  near  future  is  not  impossible." 

Excellent  testimony  to  the  subtle  iniquity  of  his 
task  lies  in  the  names  of  the  men  whose  pro- Ally 
utterances  he  was  striving  to  counteract.  In  a 
letter  written  December  20,  1914,  to  Bertling  by 
C.  W.  Ernst,  a  Bostonlan  of  German  birth  and 
American  naturalization,  appears  this  passage : 

''Is  it  prudent  to  defend  the  German  cause 
against  such  men  as  C.  W.  Eliot  and  other  Ameri- 
cans who  consider  themselves  artistocratic  and 
important?  .  .  .  Who,  apparently,  was  of  more 
importance  than  Roosevelt,  to  whom  now  even 
the  dogs  pay  no  attention?  .  .  .  The  feeling  of 
men  like  Eliot,  C.  F.  Adams,  etc.,  is  well  under- 
stood. German  they  know  not.  They  under- 
stand neither  Luther  nor  Kant,  nor  the  history 
of  Germany.  .  .  .  Tactically  it  Is  a  mistake  to  be 
easy  going  with  England,  or  in  discussion  with 
her  American  toadies.  By  curtness,  defiance, 
irony  one  can  get  much  further.  .  .  ." 

His  friend  in  the  German-American  Chamber 
of  Commerce  wrote  again  to  Berlin  in  a  vein 
which  showed  how  closely  Germany  herself  was 
watching  publicity  in  America.  "Viereck  has 
sent  me  a  letter,"  he  said,  "and  Harper's  printed 
some  matter  by  way  of  Italy.  .  .  .  The  Foreign 
Office  and  the  War  Department  urgently  want 


Tlie  Public  Mind  22d 

more  reports  sent  here.  If  cables  through  neu- 
tral countries  are  not  feasible,  could  not  Ameri- 
cans travelling  be  called  upon?  More  steam, 
please.  .  .  .  The  exchange  professors  should  get 
busy.  .  .  .  One  is  quite  surprised  here  that  v/ith 
the  exception  of  I3urgess  and  possibly  Sloan,  no- 
1)ody  seems  to  be  doing  anything.  .  .  .  Nasmith's 
article,  'The  Case  for  German}^,'  in  the  Outlook 
is  very  good — inspired  by  me.  The  same  of 
Mead's  in  Everybody's." 

And  again:  "We  will  dog  Uncle  Sam's  foot- 
steps with  painful  accuracy — ^his  sloppy,  obstin- 
ate, pro-English  neutrality  we  utterly  repudiate. 
When  God  wishes  to  punish  a  country  he  gives  it 
a  W.  J.  B.  as  Secretary  of  State." 

(When  Bryan  resigned,  German  rumors  were 
circulated  from  time  to  time  that  Secretary  Lans- 
ing, who  succeeded  him,  had  had  a  falling  out  with 
President  Wilson,  and  was  himself  on  the  point 
of  resigning.  What  Herr  Walther  thought  of 
"W.  J.  B."  's  successor  is  a  matter  of  conjecture.) 

The  documents  found  in  Dr.  Bertling's  posses- 
sion, and  the  method  of  securing  them,  brought 
forth  a  sharp  editorial  from  Bernard  Bidder  of 
the  Nezu  Yorker  Staats-Zeitimg,  then  one  of  the 
stanch  members  of  the  foreign  language  press  en- 
gaged in  defending  Germany.  Dr.  Bertling  re- 
mained unmolested  In  the  United  States  until 


230     TJie  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

April,  1918,  when  he  was  arrested  as  an  enemy 
alien  in  Lexington,  Mass.,  and  interned.  Dr. 
Bernhardt  Dernburg,  to  quote  the  words  of  a 
German  associate,  "had  some  propaganda  and 
wrote  some  articles  for  the  newspapers"  .  .  .  and 
was  ''certainly  in  connection  with  the  German 
Government,"  gave  Adolph  Pavenstedt  $15,000 
in  early  October,  1914.  To  this  Pavenstedt 
added  $5,000,  and  on  October  12  paid  the  sum  of 
$20,000  to  the  Staats-Zeitung,  to  tide  the  news- 
paper over  a  rough  financial  period.  ''I  ex- 
.pected,"  said  Pavenstedt,  ''that  if  the  business 
were  bankrupt  it  would  be  lost  to  the  Ridders, 
who  have  always  followed  a  very  good  course  for 
the  German  interests  here." 

Soon  after  the  war  began  George  Sylvester 
iViereck  brought  out  his  publication.  The  Father- 
land, a  moderately  clever  attempt  to  appeal  to  in- 
telligent readers  in  Germany's  behalf.  On  July 
I,  191 5,  the  publication  having  stumbled  along  a 
rocky  financial  path — for  no  publication  dis- 
tributed gratis  can  make  money — Dr.  Albert 
>vrote  Viereck : 

''Your  account  for  the  $1,500 — ^bonus,  after 
deducting  the  $250  received,  for  the  month  of 
June,  191 5,  has  been  received.  I  hope  in  the 
Course  of  the  next  week  to  be  able  to  make  pay- 
ment.    In  the  meantime,  I  request  the  proposal 


0) 
■(-> 

c 

> 


o 


o 


X! 

a 

Vh 

O 

o 

X! 

a. 


The  Public  Mind  231 

of  a  suitable  person  who  can  ascertain  accurately 
and  prove  the  financial  condition  of  your  paper. 
From  the  moment  when  we  guarantee  you  a 
regular  advance,  I  must 

'^i.  Have  a  new  statement  of  the  condition  of 
your  paper. 

"2.  Practise  a  control  over  the  financial  man- 
agement. 

''In  addition  to  this  we  must  have  an  under- 
standing regarding  the  course  in  politics  which 
you  will  pursue,  which  we  have  not  asked  hereto- 
fore. Perhaps  you  will  be  kind  enough  to  talk 
the  matter  over  on  the  basis  of  this  letter,  with 
Mr.  Fuehr."  Fuehr's  office  was  across  the  hall 
from  Viereck. 

Viereck  had  assembled  about  him  among  oth- 
ers a  staff  of  contributors  which  included  Dr. 
Dernburg,  Frank  Koester,  Rudolph  Kronau,  J. 
Bernard  Rethey,  a  writer  who  afifects  the  nom 
de  plume  of  "Oliver  Ames,"  Edmund  von  Mach 
(whose  brother  is  an  official  of  some  prominence 
in  Germany),  and  Ram  Ch'andra  (the  editor  of 
a  revolutionary  Hindu  newspaper  published  in 
California).  Viereck,  in  his  paper,  forecasted 
the  sinking  of  the  Lusitania  and  later  gloated 
over  it  as  well  as  over  the  murder  of  Edith  Ca- 
vell.  His  father  is  the  Berlin  correspondent  of 
his  paper.     They  are  both  "naturalized"  citizens 


232     The  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

of  the  United  States.  One  of  his  contributors, 
as  late  as  1918,  wrote  for  Viereck  a  peculiarly 
suspicious  essay  on  his  conversion  to  American- 
ism, setting  forth  in  exhaustive  detail  the  pro- 
German  convictions  which  he  had  previously 
held,  and  the  justification  for  them,  and  winding 
up  with  a  pallid  renunciation  of  them,  the  docu- 
ment as  a  whole  intended  ostensibly  to  stimulate 
patriotism,  while  in  reality  it  would  have  re- 
kindled the  dying  German  apology.  The  perni- 
cious Viereck,  whose  mental  stature  may  be 
judged  by  the  fact  that  he  treasured  a  violet  from 
the  grave  of  Oscar  Wilde,  sought  to  interest 
the  Embassy  in  his  merits  as  a  publisher  of  Ger- 
man books,  and  was  supported,  as  pro-German 
volumes  were  issued  from  the  Jackson  Press 
which  he  controlled.  He  suggested,  too,  to  Dr. 
Albert  names  of  American  publishing  houses  as 
excellent  media  for  bringing  out  propaganda 
books  on  account  of  their  obvious  innocence  of 
German  sympathies. 

A  more  patent  attempt  to  influence  the  public 
originated  in  the  German  Embassy  itself.  Dr. 
Albert,  through  intermediaries,  schemed  to  ob- 
tain for  $900,000  control  of  a  press  association. 
The  sale  was  not  made.  One  of  Dr.  Albert's 
agents,  M.  B.  Claussen,  formerly  publicity  agent 
for  the  Hamburg-American  Line,  established  in 


The  Public  Mind  233 

the  Hotel  Astor,  New  York,  the  ''German  Infor- 
mation Bureau"  for  disseminating  ''impartial 
news  al)out  the  war"  and  "keeping  the  American 
mind  from  becoming  prejudiced,"  and  he  issued 
many  a  red-white-and-black  statement  to  the 
newspapers. 

The  German  interests  also  had  designs  on  buy- 
ing an  important  New  York  evening  newspaper, 
the  Mail.  One  of  von  Papen's  assistants,  George 
von  Skal,  a  former  reporter  (and  the  predecessor 
as  commissioner  of  accounts  of  John  Purroy 
Mitchel,  New  York's  "fighting  mayor"),  entered 
the  negotiations  in  a  letter  written  by  Paul  T. 
Davis  to  Dr.  Albert  at  the  embassy.  This  letter, 
dated,  June  21,  1915,  set  forth  that — 

"In  November,  19 14,  my  father,  George  H. 
Davis,  conceived  the  idea  that  Germany  ought 
to  be  represented  in  New  York  by  one  of  the 
papers  printed  in  English.  He  spoke  to  a  number 
of  German-Americans  about  the  scheme  and 
finally  through  Mr.  George  von  Skal  got  in  touch 
with  Ambassador  Count  von  Bernstorfif,  Mr. 
Percival  Kuhne  acted  as  the  head  of  the  move- 
ment until  it  was  found  that  he  could  not  devote 
the  necessary  time  to  the  matter  in  hand  and  at 
father's  suggestion  Mr.  Ludwig  Nissen  was  sub- 
stituted. .  .  .  We  decided  upon  the  Mail  as  the 
only  paper  that  was  not  too  expensive.  .  .  .  We 


234     The  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

opened  negotiations  with  the  proprietors  of  the 
Mail  and  proceeded  until  Ambassador  Count  von 
Bernstorff  notified  both  Mr.  Kuhne  and  Mr. 
Nissen  that  at  that  time  nothing  further  should 
be  done  in  the  matter.  .  .  ." 

The  Mail  was  sold,  however,  to  Dr.  Rumely. 

Dr.  Albert  collected  for  General  Franz  Bern- 
hardi  the  proceeds  of  the  publication  in  American 
newspapers  of  the  latter's  famous  ''Germany  and 
the  Next  War."  Bernhardi  wrote  von  Papen  on 
April  9,1915: 

''I  have  now  written  two  further  series  of 
articles  for  America.  The  Foreign  Office  wanted 
to  have  the  first  of  these,  entitled  'Germany  and 
England,'  distributed  in  the  American  press ;  the 
other,  entitled  'Pan-Germanism,'  was  to  appear 
in  the  Chicago  Tribune.  They  will  certainly 
have  some  sort  of  effect,  this  is  evident  from  the 
inexpressible  rage  with  which  the  British  and 
French  press  have  attacked  those  Sun  articles." 

Bernstorff  and  Papen,  under  orders  from 
Chancellor  von  Bethmann-Hollweg,  in  May, 
191 5,  had  under  consideration  the  payment  of 
from  $1,000  to  $1,200  for  the  expenses  of  a  trip 
to  Germany  for  Edward  Lyell  Fox,  a  newspaper 
writer,  who  "at  the  time  of  his  last  sojourn  in 
Germany"  (in  1914)"  was  of  great  benefit  to  us 
by  reason  of  his  good  despatches." 


Ctpjritht.  Inttrnalicnal  Fill 


George  Sylvester  Viereck.  founder  and  Editor  of    T/ie  Father- 
land a  pro-German  propaganda  weekly  known  later 
as  Viereck' s  Weekly 


The  Public  Mind  235 

Von  Bernstorff  himself  wrote  on  March  15, 
191  5j  to  Marcus  Braun,  a  Hungarian,  and  editor 
of  a  review  called  Fair  Play : 

"My  dear  Mr.  Braun: 

"In  answer  to  your  favor  of  the  12th  instant,  I  beg  to 
say  that  I  have  read  the  monthly  review  Fair  Play  for 
the  last  3  years,  and  I  can  state  that  this  publication  is 
living  up  to  its  name,  and  that  it  has  always  taken  the 
American  point  of  view.  During  the  last  7  months  Fair 
Play  has,  in  its  editorial  policy,  treated  all  belligerents 
justly  and  thereby  rendered  great  services  to  the  millions 
of  foreign  born  citizens  in  this  country,  especially  to  those 
of  German  and  Austro-Hungarian  origin.  Fair  Play 
has  fought  for  the  rights  of  the  latter  and  for  truth,  al- 
ways maintaining  an  American  attitude  and  showing  true 
American  spirit. 

"You  are  at  liberty  to  show  this  letter  to  anybody  who 
is  interested  in  the  matter,  but  I  beg  you  not  to  publish  it, 
as  to  (do)  this  would  be  contrary  to  the  instructions  of 
my  government,  who  does  not  wish  me  to  publicly  adver- 
tise any  review  or  newspaper. 

"Very  sincerely  yours, 

"J.  Bernstorff." 

On  May  28,  191 5,  J.  Bernstorff  signed  another 
gratifying  document  for  the  same  Braun — a 
check  for  $5,000  payable  to  the  Fair  Play  Print- 
ing &  Publishing  Company.  Such  was  the  re- 
ward of  "true  American  spirit." 

When  Germany  embarked  upon  an  enterprise 


236     The  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

she  usually  followed  charts  prepared  by  trained 
surveyors.  Her  attempts  at  newspaper  and 
magazine  propaganda  in  the  first  ten  month;;  of 
war  had  been  hastily  conceived  and  not  altogether 
successful.  One  of  the  most  comprehensive  re- 
ports which  have  come  to  light  is  a  recommenda- 
tion, dated  July,  191 5,  in  which  the  investigator 
discusses  the  feasibility  of  a  strong  German  news- 
syndicate  in  America. 

It  was  to  be  operated  by  two  bureaus,  one  in 
Berlin  as  headquarters  for  all  news  and  pictures 
from  Germany,  Austria-Hungary,  Turkey  and 
the  Balkans,  one  in  New  York  for  distribution 
of  the  matter  to  the  American  press.  Corre- 
spondents from  America  were  to  be  given  the 
privileges  of  both  Eastern  and  Western  fronts, 
from  3,000  to  4,000  words  a  day  were  to  be  sent 
by  wireless  from  Nauen  to  Sayville,  secret  codes 
were  to  be  arranged  so  that  the  cable  news  might 
be  smuggled  past  the  enemy  in  the  guise  of  com- 
mercial messages.  The  bureau  in  New  York 
was  to  gather  American  news  for  Germany,  and 
the  service  was  eventually  to  extend  over  the 
whole  world. 

'Tn  fact,"  said  the  report,  "it  will  be  particu- 
larly desirable  to  inaugurate  the  Chinese  service 
at  once,  so  that  the  American  public  is  informed 
about  that  which  really  happens  in  order  to  create 


OCRMAN  eMBASSY 

WASM.N0TOI..IXC.         Washington, D.C.,  March  15,  1915. 

My  dear  Mr.  Braun, 

In  answer  to  your  favor  of  i2th  Instant  I  beg  to 
say  that  I  have  read  the  monthly  review  „Fair  Play"  for 
the  last  3  years,  and  I  can  state  that  this  publication 
has  been  living  up  to  its  name  and  that  It  has  always 
taken  the  American  point  of  view.  During  the  last  7 
months  „Fair  Play"  has,  in  its  editorial  policy,  treataJ 
all  belligerents  justly  and  thereby  rendered. great 
services  to  the  millions  of  foreign  born  citizens  of 
this  coontryjespecially  to  those  of  German  and  Austio- 
Hungarlan  origin.  „Fair  Play"  has  fought  for  the  rights 
of  the  latter  and  for  truth,  always  maintaining  an 
American  attitude  and  showing  true  American  spirit. 

You  are  at  liberty  to  show  this  letter  to  anybody 
who  is  interested  in  the  matter,  but  I  beg  you  not  to 
publish  It,  as  to  this  would  be  contrary  to  the 
instructions  of  my  Government,  who  does  not  wish  me 
to  publicly  advertize  any  reviews  or  newspaper. 
Very  sincerely  yours, 


Marcus  Braun,  Esq., 
Editor  of  „Fair  Play" 

New  York  City. 


0m  ff 


Fac-simile  of  a  letter  from  Count  von  Bemstorff 
to  the  editor  of  "Fair  Play" 


The  Public  Mind  237, 

an  effective  counter-weight  against  the  Japanese 
propaganda  in  the  American  press." 

The  New  York  bureau  was  estimated  to  cost 
$6,640  per  month,  the  bureau  in  BerHn  about  half 
that  sum;  two  years'  effort  would  have  cost  about 
$200,000.  The  writer  proposed  to  establish  a 
lecture  service  as  auxiliary,  the  total  expenses 
of  which,  covering  the  Chautauquas  of  one 
summer,  he  estimated  at  $75,000.  The  investi- 
gator concluded: 

''Hoping  that  my  proposals  will  lead  to  a  suc- 
cessful result,  I  will  take  the  liberty  of  advising 
in  the  interest  of  the  German  cause — aside  from 
the  fact  whether  my  proposals  will  be  carried 
out  or  not — that  the  following  should  be  avoided 
on  the  part  of  Germany  in  the  future : 

"i.  The  Belgian  neutrality  question  as  well  as 
the  question  of  the  Belgian  atrocities  should  not 
be  mentioned  any  more  in  the  future. 

"2.  It  should  not  be  tried  any  more  in  America 
to  put  the  blame  for  the  world  war  and  its  con- 
sequences alone  on  England,  as  a  considerable 
English  element  still  exists  in  America,  and  the 
American  people  hold  to  the  view  that  all  parties, 
as  usual,  are  partly  guilty  for  the  war. 

"3.  The  pride  and  imagination  of  the  Ameri- 
cans with  regard  to  their  culture  should  not  con- 
tinually be  offended  by  the  assertion  that  German 


238     Tlie  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

culture  is  the  only  real  culture  and  surpasses 
everything  else. 

**4.  The  publication  of  purely  scientific  pam- 
phlets should  be  avoided  in  the  future  as  far  as 
the  American  people  are  concerned,  as  their  dry 
reading  annoys  the  American  and  is  incompre- 
hensible to  him. 

"5.  Finally  it  is  of  the  utmost  importance  that 
the  authorities  as  well  as  the  German  people  cease 
continually  to  discuss  publicly  the  delivery  of 
American  arms  and  ammunition,  as  well  as  to  let 
every  American  feel  their  displeasure  about  it." 

The  Foreign  Office  never  saw  fit  to  act  upon 
the  investigator's  proposals,  for  less  than  a  month 
after  he  had  written  his  report,  it  appeared, 
verbatim,  in  the  columns  of  a  New  York  news- 
paper. Axiom:  The  most  effective  means  of 
fighting  enemy  propaganda  is  by  propaganda  for 
which  the  enemy  unwittingly  supplies  the  ma- 
terial. 

Motion  pictures  appealed  to  the  Germans  as  a 
practical  and  graphic  means  of  spreading  through 
America  visual  proof  of  their  kindness  to  prison- 
ers, their  prodigious  success  with  new  engines  of 
war,  and  their  brutal  reception  at  the  hands  of 
the  nations  they  were  forced  in  self-defence  to 
invade.  So  Dr.  Albert  financed  the  American 
Correspondent   Film   Company,    two   of   whose 


be 


+->    c 
fed   a 

CQ  .5 


o 


a 
o 
U 


The  Public  Mind  239 

stockholders  were  Claussen  and  Dr.  Karl  A. 
Fuehr,  a  translator  in  Viereck's  office.  As  late 
as  August,  1916,  Karl  Wunnenberg  and  Albert 
A.  Sander,  of  the  ''Central  Powers  Film  Com- 
pany," which  was  also  subsidized  to  circulate 
German-made  moving  pictures,  engaged  George 
Vaux  Bacon,  a  free-lance  theatrical  press  agent, 
to  go  to  England  at  a  salary  of  $100  a  week,  ob- 
tain valuable  information,  and  transmit  it  in 
writing  in  invisible  ink  to  Holland,  where  it  would 
be  forwarded  to  Germany.  The  two  principals 
were  later  indicted  on  a  charge  of  having  set 
afoot  a  military  enterprise  against  Great  Britain, 
and  were  sentenced  to  two  years  in  prison ;  Bacon, 
the  cat's-paw,  received  a  year's  sentence.  (San- 
der, a  German,  had  been  involved  in  secret-agent 
work  on  a  previous  occasion  when  he  assaulted 
Richard  Stegler  for  not  disavowing  an  affidavit 
explaining  his  acquisition  of  a  false  passport.) 
The  secret  ink  they  gave  Bacon  was  invisible  un- 
der all  conditions  unless  a  certain  chemical  prepa- 
ration, which  could  be  compounded  only  with  dis- 
tilled water,  was  applied  to  it. 

At  the  start  of  the  war  there  began  in  Con- 
gress a  vehement  debate  over  the  question  of  im- 
posing a  legislative  embargo  on  the  shipment  of 
arms  and  ammunition  to  the  Allies.  In  these  de- 
bates participated  men  who  undoubtedly  were 


240     The  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

sincere  in  the  convictions  they  expressed.  Never- 
theless, in  the  late  winter  and  early  spring  of 
191 5,  a  hireling  of  the  Germans  began  to  seek 
secret  conferences  with  congressmen  in  a  Wash- 
ington hotel  and  to  outline  to  them  plans  for  com- 
pelling an  embargo  on  munitions.  His  activities 
bring  us  to  the  affairs  of  the  National  German- 
American  Alliance,  Germany's  most  powerful  and 
least  tangible  factor  of  general  propaganda  in  the 
United  States. 

The  organization  had  a  large  membership 
among  Germans  in  America;  it  has  been  esti- 
mated that  there  were  three  million  members, 
who  constituted  a  great  majority  of  the  adult 
German-American  population.  It  received  a 
Federal  charter  in  1907.  The  Alliance,  to  quote 
Professor  John  William  Scholl,  of  the  University 
of  Michigan,  (in  the  New  York  Times  of  March 
2,  191 8),  "strives  to  awaken  a  sense  of  unity 
among  the  people  of  German  origin  in  America ; 
to  'centralize'  their  powers  for  the  'energetic  de- 
fense of  such  justified  wishes  and  Interests'  as  are 
not  contrary  to  the  rights  and  duties  of  good 
citizens;  to  defend  its  class  against  'natlvlstic  en- 
croachments' ;  to  'foster  and  assure  good,  friendly 
relations  of  America  to  the  old  German  father- 
land.'    Such  are  Its  declared  objects. 

*'A11  petty  quibbling  aside,  this  programme  can 


The  Public  Mind  241 

mean  nothing  else  than  the  maintenance  of  a 
Germanized  body  of  citizens  among  us,  conscious 
of  their  separateness,  resistent  to  all  forces  of 
absorption.  It  is  mere  camouflage  to  state  in  a 
later  paragraph  that  this  body  does  not  intend 
to  found  a  'State  within  the  State/  but  merely  sees 
in  this  centralization  the  'best  means  of  attaining 
and  maintaining  the  aims'  set  forth  above. 

''AH  existing  societies  of  Germans  are  called 
upon  as  'organized  representatives  of  Deutsch- 
tum'  to  make  it  a  point  of  honor  to  form  a  national 
alliance,  to  foster  formation  of  new  societies  in 
all  States  of  the  Union,  so  that  the  whole  mass 
of  Germans  in  America  can  be  used  as  a  unit  for 
political  action.  This  league  pledges  itself  'with 
all  legal  means  at  hand  unswervingly  and  at 
all  times  to  enter  the  lists  for  the  maintenance 
and  propagation  of  its  principles  for  their  vigor- 
ous defense  wherever  and  whenever  in  danger.'  " 

Professor  Scholl,  himself  a  teacher  of  German, 
continues:  "A  little  attention  to  the  context  of 
the  sentences  quoted  shows  that  these  Germans 
demand  the  privilege  of  coming  to  America, 
getting  citizenship  on  the  easiest  terms  possible, 
while  maintaining  intact  their  alien  speech,  alien 
customs,  and  alien  loyalties.  That  is  'assimila- 
tion,' the  granting  of  equal  political  rights  and 
commercial  opportunities,  without  exacting  any 


242     The  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

alteration  in  modes  of  life  or  'Sittlichkeit.'  'Ab- 
sorption' means  Americanization,  a  fusing  with 
the  whole  mass  of  American  life,  an  adoption  of 
the  language  and  ideals  of  the  country,  a  spiritual 
rebirth  into  Anglo-Saxon  civilization,  and  this 
has  great  terrors  for  the  members  of  a  German 
alliance. 

"A  glance  back  over  the  whole  scheme  will 
show  how  cleverly  it  was  made  to  unite  the  aver- 
age recent  comeoverer  with  his  beer-drinking  pro- 
clivities, with  the  professor  of  German,  who  had 
visions  of  increased  interest  in  his  specialty,  and 
the  professor  of  history,  who  hoped  for  larger 
journal  space  and  ampler  funds,  and  the  readily 
flattered  wealthy  German  of  some  attainments, 
into  a  close  league  of  interests,  which  could  be 
used  at  the  proper  time  for  almost  any  nefarious 
purpose  which  a  few  men  might  dictate. 

*'Add  to  this  the  emphatic  moral  and  financial 
support  of  the  German-language  press  as  one  of 
the  most  powerful  agencies  of  the  organization, 
and  we  have  the  stage  set  for  just  what  happened 
a  little  over  three  years  ago." 

The  Alliance,  long  before  the  war,  had  been 
active  in  extending  German  influence.  Among 
other  affairs,  it  had  arranged  the  visit  of  Prince 
Henry  of  Prussia.  Its  president.  Dr.  C.  J. 
Hexamer,  whose  headquarters  were  in  Philadel- 


The  Public  Mind  243 

phia,  had  received  special  recognition  from  the 
Kaiser  for  his  efforts — efforts  which  may  be 
briefly  set  forth  in  a  speech  addressed  to  Germans 
in  Milwaukee  by  Hexamer  himself : 

''You    have    been    long-suffering    under    the 
preachment  that  you  must  be  assimilated,  but  we 
shall  never  descend  to  an  inferior  culture.     We\ 
are  giving  to  these  people  the  benefits  of  German  ' 
culture." 

The  outbreak  of  war  made  the  Alliance  an  ex- 
ceedingly important,  if  unwieldy,  instrument  for 
shaping  public  opinion.  It  promoted  and  spon- 
sored a  so-called  National  Embargo  Conference 
in  Chicago  in  191 5,  working  hand-in-glove  with 
Labor's  National  Peace  Council  in  an  attempt  to 
persuade  Congress  to  pass  a  law  forbidding  the 
export  of  munitions.  At  every  congressional 
election,  particularly  in  such  cities  as  Chicago, 
Cincinnati,  Milwaukee,  and  St.  Louis,  the  hand  of 
Prussia  was  stirring  about.  When  O.  B.  Col- 
quitt, a  former  governor  of  Texas,  decided  to 
run  for  the  Senate  in  late  191 5,  he  corresponded 
with  the  editors  of  the  Staats-Zeitiing  and  a  New 
York  member  of  the  Alliance  for  support  from 
the  German  press  and  the  German  vote  in  his 
state. 

The  next  year  saw  the  approach  of  a  presi- 
dential campaign,  and  the  Alliance  established  a 


244     The  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

campaign  headquarters  in  New  York  to  dictate 
which  candidates  for  United  States  offices  should 
receive  the  soHd  German-American  vote.  Such 
candidates  had  to  record  themselves  as  opposed 
to  the  policies  of  the  Administration.  An  effort 
was  made  to  further  the  nomination  of  Champ 
Clark  as  the  Democratic  candidate,  succeeding 
Wilson.  A  German  professor,  Leo  Stern,  super- 
intendent of  schools  in  Milwaukee,  after  a  con- 
ference with  Hexamer  there,  wrote  to  the  New 
York  headquarters  approving  the  ''Wisconsin 
plan"  (Hexamer's)  for  swaying  the  Republican 
national  convention.  This  plan  set  forth  that  *'it 
is  necessary  that  a  portion  of  the  delegations  to 
the  .  .  .  convention — a  quarter  to  a  third — shall 
consist  of  approved,  distinguished  German- 
Americans."  The  Alliance  was  bitterly  opposed 
to  Wilson,  it  hated  the  lashing  tongue  and  the 
keen  nose  of  Theodore  Roosevelt,  it  distrusted 
Elihu  Root,  and  deriving  much  of  its  income  from 
the  liquor  business,  it  feared  prohibition. 

Politically  the  Alliance  was  constantly  active. 
It  supported  in  early  191 6,  through  its  friendly 
congressmen,  the  McLemore  and  Gore  resolu- 
tions, the  latter  of  which,  according  to  Hexamer, 
deserved  passage  because  it  w^ould — 

"i.  Refuse  passports  to  Americans  travelling 
on  ships,  of  the  belligerents. 


The  Public  Mind  245 

"2.  Place  an  embargo  on  contraband  of  war. 

"3.  Prohibit  Federal  Reserve  Banks  from  sub- 
scribing to  foreign  loans."  The  Alliance's  lobby- 
ist called  on  Senators  Stone,  Gore,  O'Gorman, 
Hitchcock  (all  of  whom  he  reported  as  "opposed 
to  Lansing"),  Senator  Smith  of  Arizona, 
Senators  Kern,  Martine,  Lewis  ("our  friend"), 
Smith  of  Georgia,  Works,  Jones,  Chamberlain, 
McCumber,  Cummins,  Borah  and  Clapp.  Borah, 
he  said,  had  "a  fool  idea  about  Americans  going 
everywhere."  In  the  House  of  Representatives 
he  canvassed  the  Democratic  and  Republican 
leaders,  Kitchin  and  Mann,  and  a  group  "all  of 
whom  want  the  freedom  of  the  seas,"  which  in- 
cluded Dillon  of  South  Dakota,  Bennett  of  New 
York,  Smith  of  Buffalo,  Kinchloe  of  New  York, 
Shackleford  of  Missouri,  and  Staley  and  Decker 
of  Kentucky.  "I  saw  Padgett,  chairman  of  the 
house  naval  affairs  committee,"  he  continued, 
"he  will  fall  in  line  after  a  while.  ...  I  am  work- 
ing with  Stephens  of  the  House  and  Gore  of  the 
Senate  to  put  their  bills  in  one  bill  as  a  joint  reso- 
lution. I  have  told  them  that  my  league  would 
aid  them  in  getting  members  of  the  House  and 
the  Senate,  as  well  as  helping  them  with  propa- 
ganda (this  was  their  suggestion)." 

The  resolutions  failed. 

All  these  activities  cost  money.     The  German 


246     The  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

Embassy  through  Dr.  Albert  furnished  the  head- 
quarters of  the  AlHance  with  sufficient  funds  for 
its  many  purposes.  Count  von  Bernstorff  is  al- 
leged to  have  handled  a  large  fund  for  bribery  of 
American  legislators,  but  the  fact  has  never  been 
established,  beyond  his  request  in  January,  19 17, 
for  $50,000,  for  such  purposes.  It  is  a  fact,  how- 
ever, that  the  National  German-American  Al- 
liance collected  a  sum  of  $886,670  during  the 
years  1914-1917  for  the  German  Red  Cross;  this 
was  turned  over  to  von  Bernstorff  for  transmis- 
sion to  Germany,  and  officers  of  the  Alliance  have 
admitted  that  of  this  sum  about  $700,000  was 
probably  employed  in  propaganda  by  Dr.  Dern- 
burg  and  Dr.  Meyer-Gerhardt,  v/ho  posed  as  the 
head  of  the  German  Red  Cross  in  America. 
Contributions  to  the  German  and  Austrian  relief 
funds  came  in  as  late  as  October,  19 17,  although 
no  part  of  them  were  forwarded  to  Europe  after 
the  entrance  of  America  into  the  war. 

This  last  event  occasioned  further  activity  on 
the  part  of  the  Alliance ;  during  the  period  which 
followed  the  break  in  diplomatic  relaxations,  and 
while  Congress  was  debating  the  question  of  war, 
members  of  Congress  were  deluged  with  an 
extraordinary  flood  of  telegrams  from  German- 
Americans  cautioning  them  against  taking  such 
a  step.     These  telegrams  were  prepared  by  the 


The  Public  Mind  247 

Alliance  and  the  "American  Neutrality  League" 
and  circulated  among  their  members  and  sym- 
pathizers, to  be  sent  to  Washington.  The  Al- 
liance then  issued  to  its  branches  throughout  the 
states  a  resolution  of  loyalty  to  be  adopted  in 
case  war  was  declared.  This  resolution,  after 
making  a  hearty  declaration  of  loyalty  to  the 
United  States,  went  on  to  belie  its  promise  with 
such  pacifist  utterances  as  this: 

"Our  duty  before  the  war  was  to  keep  out  of  it. 
Our  duty  now  is  to  get  out  of  it." 

So  earnest  were  the  efforts  of  the  Alliance  to 
keep  out  of  war  that  some  ten  months  after  its 
declaration  of  loyalty  was  promulgated,  Congress 
decided  to  investigate  the  organization,  with  a 
view  to  revoking  its  charter.  The  investigation 
wrote  into  the  archives  certain  characteristics  of 
the  Alliance  which  had  long  been  obvious  to  the 
truly  American  public;  its  deep-rooted  Teuton- 
ism,  its  persistent  zeal,  and  its  dangerous  scope  of 
activity.  The  courageous  legislators  who  initiated 
and  pursued  the  investigation,  in  the  face  of  con- 
stant opposition  of  the  most  tortuous  variety,  had 
their  reward,  for  on  April  it,  1918,  the  executive 
committee  of  the  National  Alliance  met  in  Phila- 
delphia and  dissolved  the  organization,  turned  the 
$30,000  in  its  coffers  over  to  the  American  Red 
Cross,  and  uttered  a  swan  song  of  loyalty  to  the 


248     The  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

United  States.  The  body  of  the  octopus  was 
dead.  One  by  one,  first  in  Brooklyn,  then  in  San 
Francisco,  then  elsewhere,  its  tentacles  sloughed 
away. 

A  word  for  the  pacifists.  One  pacifist  consti- 
tutes a  quorum  in  any  society.  There  were  in 
America  at  the  outbreak  of  war  one  hundred 
million  people  who  disliked  war.  As  the  injus- 
tices of  Germany  multiplied,  the  patriotic  war- 
haters  became  militarists,  and  there  sprang  up 
little  groups  of  malcontents  who  resented,  usually 
by  German  consent,  any  tendency  on  the  part  of 
the  Government  to  avenge  the  insult  to  its  inde- 
pendence. Social  and  industrial  fanatics  of  all 
descriptions  flocked  to  the  standard  of  ''Peace  at 
Any  Price,"  and  for  want  of  a  dissenting  audience 
soon  convinced  themselves  that  they  had  some- 
thing to  say. 

Many  of  the  peace  movements  which  were  set 
going  during  the  first  three  years  of  the  war  were 
sincere,  many  were  not.  A  mass  meeting  held  at 
Madison  Square  Garden  in  191 5  at  which  Bryan 
was  the  chief  speaker,  was  inspired  by  Germany. 
In  the  insincere  class  falls  also  the  "Friends  of 
Peace,"  organized  in  191 5.  Its  letterhead  bore 
the  invitation :  "Attend  the  National  Peace  Con- 
vention, Chicago,  Sept.  5  and  6,"  and  incidentally 
betrayed  the  origin  of  the  society.     The  letter- 


The  Public  3Hnd  249 

head  stated  that  the  society  represented  the 
American  Truth  Society  (an  offshoot  of  the 
National  German- American  Alhance),  The 
American  Women  of  German  Descent,  the  Amer- 
ican Fair  Play  Society,  the  German-American 
Alliance  of  Greater  New  York,  the  German  Cath- 
olic P'ederation  of  New  York,  the  United  Irish- 
American  Societies  and  the  United  Austrian  and 
Hungarian-American  Societies.  Among  the 
"honorable  vice-chairmen"  were  listed  Edmund 
von  Mach,  John  Devoy,  Justices  Goft"  and  Co- 
halan  (a  trinity  of  Britonophobes),  Cokjuitt  of 
Texas,  Ex-Congressman  Buchanan  (of  Labor's 
National  Peace  Council  fame),  Jeremiah  O'Leary 
(a  Sinn  Feiner,  mentioned  in  official  cables  from 
Zimmermann  to  Bernstorff  as  a  good  intermedi- 
ary for  sabotage),  Judge  John  T.  Hylan,  Richard 
Bartholdt  (a  congressman  active  in  the  German 
political  lobby),  and  divers  officers  of  the  Alh- 
ance. 

The  American  Truth  Society,  Inc.,  the  parent 
of  the  Friends  of  Peace,  was  founded  in  1912  by 
Jeremiah  O'Leary,  a  Tammany  lawyer  later  in- 
dicted for  violation  of  the  Espionage  Act,  who 
disappeared  when  his  case  came  up  for  trial  in 
May,  1918;  Alphonse  Koelble,  who  conducted  the 
German-American  Alliance's  New  York  political 
clearing    house;    Gustav    Dopslaff,    a    German- 


250     The  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

American  banker,  and  others  interested  in  the 
German  cause.  In  191 5  the  Society,  whose  ex- 
ecutives were  well  and  favorably  known  to  Ger- 
man embassy,  began  issuing  and  circulating  noisy 
pamphlets,  with  such  captions  as  "Fair  Play  for 
Germany,"  and  "A  German-American  War." 
O'Leary  and  his  friends  also  conducted  a  mail 
questionnaire  of  Congress  in  an  effort  to  cata- 
logue the  convictions  of  each  member  on  the 
blockade  and  embargo  questions.  Their  most  in- 
sidious campaign  was  an  effort  to  frighten  the 
smaller  banks  of  the  country  from  participating 
in  Allied  loans,  by  threats  of  a  German  "black- 
list" after  the  war,  to  organize  a  "gold  protest" 
to  embarrass  American  banking  operations,  and 
in  general  to  harass  the  Administration  in  its 
international  relations. 

So  with  their  newspapers,  rumor-mongers, 
lecturers,  peace  societies,  alliances,  bunds,  vereins, 
lobbyists,  war  relief  workers,  motion  picture 
operators  and  syndicates,  the  Germans  wrought 
hard  to  avert  war.  For  two  years  they  nearly 
succeeded.  America  was  imder  the  narcotic  in- 
fluence of  generally  comfortable  neutrality,  and  a 
comfortable  nation  likes  to  wag  its  head  and  say 
"there  are  two  sides  to  every  question."  But 
whatever  these  German  agents  might  have  accom- 
plished in  the  public  mind — and  certainly  they 


THEFRIEND  S    OF   PEACE 

Attend  the  National  Peace  Convention,  Chicago,  Sept.  5  and  6,  1915 


Representing 
an  Truth  Society 
an  Independence  Union 
nanity  League 
American  Women  of  German  Desce 
American  Fair  Play  Society 
Continental  League 
German-American  Alliance  of  Greati 
German  Cattiolic  Federation  of  Ni 
United  Iristi-American  Societies 
United  Austrian  &  Hungarian-Ai 
UpJiolsterers'  International  Union 
and  other  American  Societ: 


National  Convention  Committee 
BR1S3EN   WALKER. 


Publicity  Committee 
DCF.  RUTHERFORD.  Chairman 
HENRY  SCHAEFFER.  j 

RICHARD  .M.   .McCANN.        '    Secrelarits 
HIGH   MASTERSON.  ' 


New  York,. 


.1915 


Convention  Comr,iittee 

Michael  J.  Ryai 
Robert  E.  Ford 
Edmund  von  Macli 
John  Devoy '~ 

Murpl.y 


'  We 


Horace  L.  (irand 
Paul  Mueller       ^ 
ProL  Wm.  I.  Shcpr.erJ 

JudiieT.  O'Neill   Rvan 
Richard  Bartholil 
Jeremiah  O'Leaiy 
Judge  John  J.  Rooney 
Ferd  Timm 
E.  K.  Vietor 
Hon.  John  W.  Goff 
Hon.  Daniel  Cohalan^- 
joseph  P  McLaughl'rn 
Judge  John  T.  Hylan 
Judge  J.  Harry  Tierna.i 
Pa:rick  O'Donnell 
James  T.  Clarke- 
Hugh  H.  O'Neill 
Frank  Buchanan 
O.  B.  Colquitt 
Daniel  O'Connell 
CoL  Wm.  Hoynes 
Stephen  E.  Folan- 
lohn  F.  Kelly 
Hon.JamesK.  McGuire 
A.  L.  Morrison 
Miss  Annie  C.  Malia 
Ellen  Ryan  Jolly- 
Thomas  O'Brien 
J.  B.  Murphy 
Thomas  H.  Maloney 
T.  J.  Corri.gan 
Marry  F.  McWhortef 
P.  J,  Reynolds 
Frank  J.  Ryan 
J.  P.  O'Mahony 


Thorn 


i  F.  Anderson 


Letter-paper  of  "The  Friends  of  Peace" 


The  Public  Mind  251 

were  sowing  their  seed  in  fertile  ground — was 
nullified  by  acts  of  violence,  ruthlessness  at  sea, 
and  impudence  in  diplomacy.  The  left  hand 
found  out  w'hat  the  right  hand  was  about. 


CHAPTER  XVI 

HINDU-GERMAN    CONSPIRACIES 

The  Society  for  Advancement  in  India — "Gaekwar 
Scholarships" — Har  Dyal  and  Gadlir — India  in  1914 — 
Papen's  report — German  and  Hindu  agents  sent  to  the 
Orient — Gupta  in  Japan — The  raid  on  von  Igel's  ofiice — 
Chakravarty  replaces  Gupta — The  Annie  Larscn  and 
Maverick  filibuster — Von  Igel's  memoranda — Har  Dyal 
in  Berlin — A  request  for  anarchist  agents — Ram  Chandra 
— Plots  against  the  East  and  West  Indies — Correspond- 
ence between  Bernstorfif  and  Berlin,  19 16 — Designs  on 
China,  Japan  and  Africa — Chakravarty  arrested — The 
conspirators  indicted. 

As  far  back  as  1907  a  plot  was  hatched  in  the 
United  States  to  promote  sedition  and  unrest  in 
British  India.  The  chief  agitators  had  the  ef- 
frontery in  the  following  year  to  make  their  head- 
quarters in  rooms  in  the  New  York  Bar  Associa- 
tion, and  to  issue  from  that  address  numerous 
circulars  asking  for  money.  The  late  John  L. 
Cadwallader,  of  the  distinguished  law  firm  of 
Cadwallader,  Wickersham  and  Taft,  was  then 
president  of  the  Bar  Association,  and  when  he 
learned  of  the  Hindu  activities  under  the  roof  of 

252 


Hindu-German  Co7ispiracies  253 

the  association  he  swiftly  evicted  the  ringleaders. 
Their  organization,  chartered  in  November,  1907, 
was  called  The  Society  for  the  Advancement  of 
India.  One  of  its  officers  was  a  New  York  man 
to  whom  the  British  have  since  refused  permis- 
sion to  visit  India.  Its  members  included  several 
college  professors. 

The  presence  of  several  educators  in  the  list 
may  be  accounted  for  by  the  fact  that  the  society 
existed  apparently  for  the  purpose  of  supplying 
American  college  training  to  selected  Hindu 
youths.  Many  of  them  were  sent  to  the  United 
States  at  the  expense  of  the  Gaekwar  of  Baroda, 
one  of  the  richest  and  most  influential  of  the 
Indian  princes;  the  Gaekwar's  own  son  was  a 
student  in  Harvard  College  in  the  years  1908- 
191 2.  Considerable  sums  of  money  were  so- 
licited from  worthy  folk  who  believed  that  they 
were  furthering  the  cause  of  enlightenment  in 
India;  others  who  sincerely  believed  that  British 
rule  was  tyrannical  gave  frankly  to  the  society  to 
help  an  Indian  nationalist  movement  for  home 
rule ;  others  contributed  freely  for  the  promotion 
of  any  and  every  anti-British  propaganda  in 
India.  The  source  of  the  latter  funds  may  be 
suggested  by  the  understanding  which  long  ex- 
isted between  the  Society  for  the  Advancement 
of  India  and  the  Clan-na-Gael,  an  understanding 


254     Tlie  German  Secret  Service  in  Arnerica 

witnessed  by  the  frequent  quotation  in  the  dis- 
affected press  of  India  of  articles  from  the  Gae- 
lic-American. Another  successful  solicitor  was 
a  contemptible  Swami,  Vivekahanda,  who  dis- 
cussed soul  matters  to  New  York's  gullible-rich  to 
his  great  profit  until  the  police  gathered  him  in 
for  a  very  earthly  and  material  offense.  But  the 
students  were  the  best  material  for  revolt, 
whether  it  was  to  be  social  or  military,  and  we 
shall  see  presently  how  they  were  made  use  of. 

The  Gaekwar  of  Baroda  came  to  America  in 
the  first  decade  of  the  new  century  and  expressed 
freely  at  that  time  his  dislike  for  the  British.  At 
the  time  of  the  Muzaffarpur  bomb  outrage,  in 
which  the  wife  and  daughter  of  an  English  of- 
ficial were  killed,  the  police  found  in  the  outskirts 
of  Calcutta  a  Hindu  who  had  been  educated  at  an 
American  college  at  the  Gaekwar's  expense  and 
who  was  at  that  time  conducting  a  school  of  in- 
struction in  the  use  of  explosives  and  small  arms ; 
he  even  had  considerable  quantities  of  American 
arms  and  ammunition  stored  in  his  house.  The 
youths  who  held  "Gaekwar  scholarships"  in 
America  were  under  the  general  oversight  of  a 
professor  attached  to  the  American  Museum  of 
Natural  History,  and  the  accumulation  of  evi- 
dence of  the  activities  of  the  students  finally 
caused  his  removal. 


Hindu-Gcrmati  Conspiracies  255 

The  Society  established  branches  in  Chicago, 
Denver,  Seattle,  and  even  in  St.  John,  New  Bruns- 
wick, and  it  thrived  on  the  Pacific  Coast.  With- 
.--^in  the  purlieus  of  the  University  of  California, 
there  lived  in  191 3  one  Har  Dyal,  a  graduate  of 
St.  John's  college  at  Oxford.  Har  Dyal  in  that 
year  founded  a  publication  called  Gadhr,  which 
being  translated  means  "mutiny,"  its  main  edition 
published  in  Urdu,  other  editions  published  in 
other  vernaculars,  and  appealing  not  only  to 
Hindus,  but  to  Sikhs  and  Moslems.  The  publi- 
cation and  the  chief  exponents  of  its  thought 
formed  the  nucleus  of  a  considerable  system  of 
.anti-British  activity. 

'^  Whatever  was  anti-British  found  a  warm  re- 
ception in  Berlin.  England,  in  August  and  Sep- 
tember, 1914,  was  wrestling  heroically  with  the 
problem  of  supplying  men  to  the  Continent  before 
the  German  drive  should  reach  the  Channel. 
Her  regulars  went,  and  the  training  of  that  gal- 
lant "first  hundred  thousand"  followed.  She 
combed  her  colonies  for  troops,  and  having  an 
y  appreciable  force  of  well-trained  native  soldiers 
under  arms  in  India,  she  brought  them  to  France, 
and  the  chronicles  of  the  war  are  already  full  of 
stories  of  the  splendid  fighting  they  did,  and  the 
annoyance  they  caused  to  the  grey  troops  of 
Germany.     From  the  German  standpoint  it  was 


V 


^ 


256     The  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

good  strategy  to  incite  discontent  in  India,  both 
as  tending  to  remove  the  Hindu  and  Sikh  regi- 
ments from  the  fighting  zone,  and  as  distracting 
England's  attention  from  the  main  issue  by  mak- 
ing her  look  to  the  preservation  of  one  of  her 
richest  treasure  lands ;  there  was  the  further  pos- 
sibility, after  the  expected  elimination  of  Russia, 
of  German  conquest  of  India,  and  a  German 
trade  route  from  the  Baltic  to  the  Bay  of  Bengal, 
through  the  Himalayan  passes.  Germany  seized 
upon  the  opportunity.  The  Amir  of  Afghanistan 
had  trained  his  army  under  Turkish  officers, 
themselves  instructed  by  Germany  through  the 
forces  of  Enver  Pasha.  The  Afghans  were  told 
that  the  Kaiser  was  Mohammedan,  and  by  the 
faith  prepared  to  smite  down  the  wicked  un- 
believer, England.  The  Amir  himself  spoiled 
Germany's  designs  among  his  people,  however, 
for  upon  the  outbreak  of  the  war  he  pledged  his 
neutrality  to  the  British  Government,  and  he  kept 
his  word. 

A  report  found  on  the  war  correspondent 
Archibald  and  written  by  Captain  von  Papen  to 
the  Foreign  Office  in  the  summer  of  1915,  outlines 
the  German  version  of  the  situation  in  India : 
,-  "That  a  grave  unrest  reigns  at  the  present  time 
throughout  India  is  shown  by  the  various  follow- 
ing reports: 


Hindu-German  Conspiracies  257 

"Since  October,  1914,  there  have  been  various 
local  mutinies  of  Mohammedan  native  troops, 
one  practically  succeeding  the  other.  From  the 
last  reports,  it  appears  that  the  Hindu  troops  are 
going  to  join  the  mutineers. 

"The  Afghan  army  is  ready  to  attack  India. 
The  army  holds  the  position  on  one  side  of  the 
Utak  (?)  River.  The  British  army  is  reported 
to  hold  the  other  side  of  the  said  river.  The 
three  bridges  connecting  both  sides  have  been 
blown  up  by  the  British. 

"In  the  garrison  located  on  the  Kathiawar 
Peninsula  Indian  mutineers  stormed  the  arsenal. 
Railroads  and  wireless  station  have  been  de- 
stroyed. The  Sikh  troops  have  been  removed 
from  Beluchistan;  only  English,  Mohammedans 
and  Hindu  troops  remain  there. 
J'  "The  Twenty-third  Cavalry  Regiment  at 
Lahore  revolted,  the  police  station  and  Town 
House  were  stormed.  The  Indian  troops  in 
Somaliland  in  Labakoran  are  trying  to  effect  a 
junction  with  the  Senussi.  All  Burma  is  ready  to 
revolt. 

"In  Calcutta  unrest  (is  reported)  with  street 
fighting.  In  Lahore  a  bank  was  robbed;  every 
week  at  least  two  Englishmen  killed;  in  the  north- 
western district  many  Englishmen  killed;  muni- 


/" 


258     The  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

tions  and  other  material  taken,  railroads  de- 
stroyed; a  relief  train  was  repulsed. 

"Everywhere  great  unrest.  In  Benares  a  bank 
has  been  stormed. 

"Revolts  in  Chitral  very  serious,  barracks  and 
Government  buildings  destroyed.  The  Hurti 
Mardin  Brigade,  under  Gen.  Sir  E.  Wood,  has 
been  ordered  there.  Deputy  Commissioner  of 
Lahore  wounded  through  a  bomb  in  the  Anakali 
Bazaar. 

"Mohammedan  squadron  of  the  cavalry  regi- 
ment in  Nowschera  deserted  over  Chang,  south- 
west Peshawar.  Soldiers  threvv^  bombs  against 
the  family  of  the  Maharajah  of  Mysore.  One 
child  and  two  servants  killed,  his  wife  mortally 
wounded. 

"In  Ceylon  a  state  of  war  has  been  declared." 

In  February,  191 5,  Jodh  Singh,  a  former 
student  of  engineering  in  the  United  States,  was 
in  Rio  de  Janeiro.  He  was  directed  by  a  fellow 
Hindu  to  call  upon  the  German  Consul,  and  the 
latter  gave  him  $300  and  instructions  to  proceed 
to  the  German  consul  in  Genoa,  Italy,  for  orders. 
Thence  he  was  forwarded  to  Berlin,  where  he  at- 
tended the  meetings  of  the  newly  formed  Indian 
Revolutionary  Society  and  absorbed  many  ideas 
for  procedure  in  America.  Supplied  with  more 
German  money  he  came  to  New  York  and  was 


Hindu-German  Conspiracies  259 

joined  by  Heramba  Lai  Gupta,  a  Hindu  who  had 
been  a  student  at  Columbia,  and  Albert  H. 
Wehde,  an  art  collector.  The  three  went  to 
Chicago,  and  Singh  called  at  once  upon  Gustav 
Jacobsen,  the  real  estate  dealer  who  will  be  re- 
called in  the  Kaltschmidt  bomb  plots  in  Detroit. 
Jacobsen  assembled  a  group  of  German  sym- 
pathizers which  included  Baron  Kurt  von  Reis- 
witz,  the  consul,  George  Paul  Boehm  (mentioned 
in  instructions  to  von  Papen  to  attack  the 
Canadian  Pacific  Railway)  and  one  Sterneck. 
At  the  conference  Jodh  Singh,  Boehm,  Sterneck 
and  Gupta  were  detailed  to  go  to  the  far  East: 
Singh  to  Siam,  to  recruit  liindus  for  revolution- 
ary service,  Gupta  to  China  and  Japan  to  secure 
arms;  Boehm  to  the  Himalayas,  to  attack  the  ex- 
ploring party  of  Dr.  Frederick  A.  Cook,  the 
notorious,  to  impersonate  Dr.  Cook,  and  thus 
travel  about  the  hills  spreading  sedition.  V/ehde, 
with  v$2o,ooo  of  von  Reiswitz's  money,  Boehm  and 
Sterneck  sailed  for  Manila,  and  apparently  es- 
caped thence  to  Java,  to  meet  two  officers  from 
the  Emden,  for  the  three  are  at  this  writing  fugi- 
tives from  justice;  Jodh  Singh  was  arrested  in 
Bangkok  and  turned  over  to  the  British  authori- 
ties. 

In  the  diary  of  Captain  Grasshof  of  the  Ger- 
man cruiser  Gcicr,  interned  in  Honolulu,  appears 


260     The  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

the  followins:  entrv,  establishino-  Wehde's  call  in 
Hawaii,  and  the  complicity  of  the  Consulate  there 
in  his  plans: 

"At  the  Consulate  I  met  Mr.  A.  Wehde  from 
Chicago,  who  is  on  way  to  Orient  on  business. 

"One  of  the  Hindoos  sent  over  by  Knorr  (naval 
attache  of  German  Embassy  at  Tokio)  left  for 
Shanghai  on  the  6th.  In  Hongkong  there  are 
500  Hindoos,  200  officers  and  volunteers,  besides 
one  torpedo  boat  and  tv^^o  Japanese  cruisers. 

"K-17  (A.  V.  Kircheisen)  was  almost  captured 
in  Kobe.  The  first  officer  of  the  China  warned 
him  and  he  immediately  got  on  board  again  as 
soon  as  possible.  K-17  informed  me  that  the 
Japs  have  sold  1)ack  to  the  Russians  all  the  old 
guns  taken  from  the  latter  during  the  Russo- 
Japanese  war." 

Reiswitz  in  June  added  $20,000  more  to  the 
fund  for  revolution  in  India.  Gupta,  to  whom 
von  Papen  had  paid  $16,000  in  New  York,  went 
on  to  Japan  with  Dhirendra  Sarkar,  a  fellow  con- 
spirator. 

The  presence  of  the  two  plotters  in  Japan  be- 
came known  to  the  authorities  and  soon  there- 
after to  the  public.  They  were  shadovs^ed  every- 
where, and  a  complete  record  was  kept  of  their 
activities ;  the  newspapers  discussed  them,  and  it 
was  common  property  that  they  gave  a  banquet 


Hindii-GerTrimi  Consjnracies  261 

on  the  night  of  November  9,  19 15,  to  ten  other 
Hindus,  to  toast  a  plot  for  revolution  in  India. 
On  November  28  they  were  ordered  by  the  chief 
of  police  to  leave  Japan  before  December  2,  which 
was  tantamount  to  a  delivery  into  the  hands  of 
the  British,  as  the  only  two  steamers  available 
were  leaving  for  Shanghai  and  Hong  Kong,  both 
ports  well  supplied  with  British  officers.  On  the 
afternoon  of  December  i  the  two  plotters  escaped 
in  an  automobile  to  the  residence  of  a  prominent 
pro-Chinese  politician  (a  friend  of  Sun  Yat  Sen) 
and  were  concealed  there,  between  false  walls, 
until  May,  19 16,  when  they  stowed  away  on  a 
ship  bound  for  Honolulu.  Sarkar  returned  to 
India,  Gupta  to  America.  When  the  round-up 
came,  in  19 17,  Jacobsen,  Wehde  and  Boehm  were 
each  convicted  of  violation  of  section  13  of  the 
Federal  Penal  Code,  and  sentenced  to  serve  five 
years  in  prison  and  pay  $13,000  fines;  Gupta's 
sentence  was  three  years,  his  fine  $200. 

The  scene  shifts  for  a  moment  from  the  Orient 
to  the  Occident,  and  the  twenty-fifth  floor  of  the 
building  at  60  Wall  Street,  New  York,  on  the 
morning  of  April  19,  1916.  There  von  Papen 
had  had  his  office;  there  when  he  was  sent  home 
in  December,  191 5,  he  had  left  in  charge  a  sharp- 
eyed  youth  named  Wolf  von  Tgel  as  his  successor. 
Von  Tgel,  at  eleven  o'clock,  was  surveying  the  re- 


262     Tlie  German  Secret  Service  m  America 

suit  of  several  hours'  work  in  sorting  and  arrang- 
ing neat  stacks  of  official  papers  for  shipment  to 
the  German  Embassy  at  Washington,  for  he  had 
got  word  that  trouble  was  brewing,  and  that  the 
documents  would  be  safer  there.  An  attendant 
entered.  "A  man  wants  to  see  you,  Herr  von 
Igel,"  he  announced.  *'He  won't  tell  his  busi- 
ness, except  that  he  says  it  is  important." 

Von  Igel  was  gruffly  directing  the  attendant  to 
make  the  stranger  specify  his  mission  when  the 
door  burst  open,  and  in  dashed  Joseph  A.  Baker, 
of  the  Department  of  Justice,  and  Federal  Agents 
Storck,  Underbill  and  Grgurevich. 

"I  have  a  warrant  for  your  arrest!"  shouted 
Baker.  Von  Igel  jumped  for  the  doors  of  the 
safe,  which  stood  open.  Baker  sprang  simul- 
taneously for  von  Igel,  and  the  two  went  to 
the  floor  in  battle.  The  German  was  over- 
powered, and  the  attendant  cowed  by  a  flash  of 
revolvers. 

"This  means  war !"  yelled  von  Igel.  "This  is 
part  of  the  German  Embassy  and  you've  no  right 
here." 

"You're  under  arrest,"  said  Baker. 

"You  shoot  and  there'll  be  war,"  said  von  Igel, 
and  made  another  frantic  attempt  to  close  the  safe 
doors.     A  second  skirmish  ended  in  von  Igel's  re- 


Hindu-German  Conspiracies  263 

moval  to  a  cell,  while  the  agents  took  charge  of 
the  documents.  The  collection  was  a  rare  catch. 
It  contained  evidence  which  supplied  the  missing 
links  in  numerous  chains  of  suspected  German 
guilt,  and  the  matter  was  at  once  placed  in  the 
safe  keeping  of  the  Government. 

One  letter  was  dated  Berlin,  February  4,  1916, 
and  addressed  to  the  German  Embassy  in  Wash- 
ington.    It  reads : 

"In  future  all  Indian  affairs  are  to  be  exclusively 
handled  by  the  committee  to  be  formed  by  Dr.  Chakra- 
varty.  Dhirendra  Sarkar,  and  Heramba  Lai  Gupta, 
which  latter  person  has  meantime  been  expelled  from 
Japan,"  .  .  . 

(Gupta  was  at  that  moment  between  the  walls 
of  the  Japanese  politician's  house.) 

.  .  ."thus  cease  to  be  independent  representatives  of  the 
Indian  Independence  Committee  existing  here. 

"(Signed)     Zimmermann." 

The  Embassy  on  March  21,  19 16,  wrote  von 
Igel  as  follows: 

"The  Imperial  German  Consul  at  Manila  writes  me : 

"  'Unfortunately  the  captured  Hindus  include  Gupta, 

who  last  was  active  at  Tokio.     The  following  have  also 

been   captured :     John    Mohammed   Aptoler,   Rulerham- 

mete,  Sharmasler,  No-Mar,  C.  Bandysi,  Rassanala.     Ap- 


264     The  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

parently  the  English  are  thoroughly  informed  of  all  indi- 
vidual movements  and  the  whereabouts  at  various  times 
of  the  Hindu  revolutionists.' 
"Please  inform  Chakravarty." 

The  name  ''Chakravarty"  occurring  in  these 
two  memoranda  makes  it  necessary  here  to  turn 
back  the  calendar  to  191 5,  in  order  to  outline  an- 
other conspicuous  Hindu-German  activity.  Not 
only  were  the  East  Indian  students  and  sympa- 
thetic educators  in  America  prolific  in  their  verbal 
advocacy  of  revolt  in  India,  but  with  German  as- 
sistance they  attempted  at  least  one  clearly  de- 
fined bit  of  filibustering,  which  if  it  had  been 
successful  would  have  supplied  the  would-be 
mutineers  in  the  Land  of  Hind  with  the  arms 
they  so  longed  to  employ  against  the  British. 

-^  The  reader  will  recall  the  mention  of  a  large 
quantity  of  weapons  and  cartridges  which  Cap- 
tain Hans  Tauscher  had  stored  in  a  building  in 
200  West  Houston  Street,  New  York,  and  which 
.  he   said   he   had   purchased    for    ''speculation." 

'T^The  speculation  was  apparently  the  project  of 
Indian  mutiny,  which  in  the  eyes  of  the  Indian 
Nationalist  party  was  to  equal  in  grandeur  the 
infamous  mutiny  of  1857.  For  those  arms  were 
shipped  to  San  Diego,  California,  secretly  loaded 
aboard  the  steamer  Annie  Larsen,  and  moved  to 
sea.     The  plan  provided  for  their  transshipment 


Hindu-German  Conspiracies  265 

off  the  island  of  Socorro  to  the  hold  of  the  steam- 
ship Maverick,  which  was  to  carry  them  to  India. 

f^  The  two  ships  failed  to  effect  a  rendezvous,  and 
after  some  wandering  the  Annie  Larsen  put  in 
at  Hoquiam,  Washington,  where  the  cargo  was  at 
once  seized  by  the  authorities.  The  Maverick 
sailed  to  San  Diego,  Hilo,  Johnson  Island,  and 
finally  to  Batavia. 

J>>  Count  von  Bernstorff  had  sufficient  courage,  on 
July  2,  to  inform  the  Secretary  of  State  "con- 
fidentially that  the  arms  and  ammunition  .  .  . 
had  been  purchased  by  my  government  months 
ago  through  the  Krupp  agency  in  New  York  for 
shipment  to  German  East  Africa."  On  July  22, 
he  wrote  again,  asking  that  the  arms  be  returned 
as  the  property  of  the  German  Government,  and 
offering  to  give  the  Department  of  Justice  "sucli 
further  information  on  the  subject  as  I  may 
have"  if  they  cared  to  push  an  examination  of 
the  cargo.  On  October  5  he  threw  all  responsi- 
bility for  the  movements  of  the  Maverick  upon 
Captain  Fred  Jebsen,  her  skipper — by  this  time  a 
fugitive  from  justice — and  stating  "the  German 
Government  did  not  make  the  shipment,  and 
knows  nothing  of  the  details  of  how  they  were 
shipped" — which  was  a  rather  shabby  way  of  dis- 
crediting his  subordinates.  * 

It  developed  later  that  the  arms  were  purchased 


26G     The  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

yN — sixteen  carloads  of  them — by  Henry  Muck, 
Tauscher's  manager,  for  $300,000,  made  payable 
by  von  Papen  through  G.  Amsinck  &  Co.  to 
Tauscher.  A  part  of  the  shipment  was  sent  to 
San  Diego ;  the  balance  was  to  have  gone  to  India 
via  Java  and  China,  but  never  left  on  acount  of 
the  protests  of  the  British  Consul.  Instead,  a 
number  of  machine  guns  and  1,500,000  rounds 
of  ammunition  were  sold  to  a  San  Francisco 
broker  who  was  acting  as  agent  for  Adolphi  Stahl, 
financial  agent  in  the  United  States  for  the  Re- 
public of  Guatemala.  When  Zimmermann  cabled 
to  von  Bernstorff  on  April  30,  191 6  (through 
Count  von  Luxburg  in  Buenos  Aires),  "Please 
wire  whether  von  Igel's  report  on  March  27, 
Journal  A,  No.  257,  has  been  seized,  and  warn 
Chakravarty,"  he  had  grave  concern  over  the  be- 
trayal of  German  influences  in  the  Hindu  con- 
spiracies. This  was  fully  justified  when  a  cor- 
respondence notebook  of  von  Igel's  disclosed, 
among  other  entries,  the  following  transactions : 
August  12,  19 1 5 — Captain  Herman  Othmer  in- 
closed documents  about  the  Annie  Larsen  and  von 
Igel  forwarded  charter  to  Consul  at  San  Fran- 
cisco. 

September  2 — The  embassy  forwarded  papers 
from  San  Francisco  about  the  Annie  Larsen  and 
von  Igel  returned  them. 


Hindu-German  Conspiracies  267 

September  7 — The  embassy  sent  a  telegram 
from  San  Francisco  about  the  Maverick. 

September  9 — The  consulate,  San  Francisco, 
sent  a  letter  for  information  and  von  Igel  replied 
with  a  telegram  al)out  Maverick  repairs. 

September  9,  19 15 — The  Embassy  sent  a  letter 
from  the  consulate  at  San  Francisco  about  ship- 
ment and  von  Igel  replied  to  embassy  that  the 
proposals  were  impracticable. 

October  i — The  embassy  sent  a  cipher  message 
to  Berlin  about  the  Maverick. 

October  9 — The  Consulate,  San  Francisco,  sent 
a  letter  about  the  Maverick  negotiations. 

October  20,  1915 — Von  Igel  received  a  report 
about  a  shipment  of  arms  from  Manila. 

January  27,  191 6 — The  embassy  forwarded 
copies  of  telegrams  to  San  Francisco  in  the  matter 
of  the  Maverick. 

August  28 — The  Consulate,  Manila,  sent  a 
cipher  letter  about  the  transport  of  arms. 

November  8,  191 5 — AAA  100  sent  a  report 
from  or  concerning  Ispahan  arms. 

The  peaceful  Har  Dyal,  Oxford  graduate, 
lecturer  at  Leland  Stanford,  denizen  of  the  Uni- 
versity of  California,  and  editor  of  Gadhr,  had 
laid  down  the  following  rules  for  the  guidance  of 
members  of  the  group  of  revolutionaries  which  he 
headed:   each   candidate   for  membership   must 


268     The  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

undergo  a  six  months'  probationary  period  before 
his  admission;  any  member  who  exposed  the 
secrets  of  the  organization  should  suffer  death; 
members  wishing  to  marry  could  do  so  without 
any  ceremony,  as  they  were  above  the  law.  Un- 
der such  amiable  rules  of  conduct  he  accumulated 
a  number  of  followers  of  the  faith,  and  more 
swarmed  to  the  tinkle  of  German  money.  In 
August,  1914,  the  "first  expeditionary  force"  of 
revolutionists  set  sail  for  India  in  the  Korea.  A 
few  months  later,  Har  Dyal  left  for  Berlin,  where 
he  organized  the  Indian  Revolutionary  Society, 
leaving  Ram  Chandra  as  his  successor  to  edit 
Gadhr  in  Berkeley. 

'  The  avowed  object  of  this  society  was  to  estab- 
lish a  Republican  government  in  India  with  the 
help  of  Germany.  They  held  regular  meetings 
attended  by  German  officials  and  civilians  who 
knew  India,  among  them  former  teachers  in  In- 
dia. At  these  meetings  the  Germans  were  ad- 
vised as  to  the  line  of  conduct  to  be  adopted. 
The  deliberations  were  of  a  secret  nature.  Har 
Dyal  and  Chattopadhay  had  considerable  influ- 
ence with  the  German  Government  and  were  the 
only  two  Indians  privileged  to  take  part  in  the 
deliberations  of  the  German  Foreign  Office. 
Besides  these  societies  there  were  in  Berlin 


Hindu-German  Conspiracies  260 

two  other  associations  known  as  the  Persian  and 
Turkish  societies.  The  ol^ject  of  the  first  named 
was  to  free  Persia  from  European  influences  in 
general,  and  create  ill  feeHng  against  the  British 
in  particular,  and  to  assist  the  natives  to  form  a 
republic.  The  object  of  the  Turkish  society  was 
practically  the  same.  They  established  an 
Oriental  translating  bureau  which  translated 
German  news  and  other  literature  selected  by  the 
Indian  Revolutionary  Society  into  various 
Oriental  languages  and  distributed  the  transla- 
tions among  the  Hindu  prisoners  of  war. 

Har  Dyal  continued  in  close  touch  with  Ameri- 
can affairs.  On  October  20  and  26,  191 5,  he 
wrote  to  Alexander  Berkman,  a"  notorious 
anarchist  imprisoned  in  19 18  for  violation  of  the 
draft  law,  urging  Berkman  to  send  to  Germany 
through  Holland  comrades  who  would  be  valuable 
in  Indian  propaganda,  and  asking  for  letters  of 
introduction  "from  Emma  or  yourself"  (Emma 
Goldman)  to  important  anarchists  in  Europe; 
these  communications  are  unimportant  except  as 
they  betray  the  Prussian  policy  of  making  an  ally 
of  anarchy,  although  anarchy  as  a  social  factor 
is  the  force  from  which  Germany  has  most,  to 
fear.  ''Perhaps  you  can  find  them,"  wrote  Dyal, 
"in  New  York  or  at  Paterson.     They  should  be 


270     The  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

real  fighters,  T.  W.  W.'s  or  anarchists.  Our 
Indian  party  will  make  all  the  necessary  arrange- 
ments." 

Ram  Chandra  went  on  with  the  work  until  he 
was  stopped  by  the  Foreign  Office.  He  printed 
anti-Britannic  pamphlets  quoting  Bryan  for  cir- 
culation in  India;  he  printed  and  delivered  to 
Lieutenant  von  Brincken  at  the  German  Consul- 
ate in  San  Francisco  some  5,000  leaflets,  which 
were  to  be  shipped  to  Germany  and  dropped  by 
the  Boche  aviators  over  the  Hindu  lines  in 
France:  the  handbills  read,  "Do  not  fight  with 
the  Germans.  They  are  our  friends.  Lay  down 
your  arms  and  run  to  the  Germans."  Chandra 
and  his  crew  supplied  the  Maverick  with  quan- 
tities of  literature,  but  most  of  it  was  burned 
when  the  Hindu  agents  aboard  feared  that  there 
were  British  warships  near  Socorro  Island.  In 
the  same  group  were  G.  B.  Lai  and  Taraknath 
Das,  two  former  students  at  the  University  of 
California,  the  latter  a  protege  of  a  German  pro- 
fessor there  himself  engaged  in  propaganda  work. 

Throughout  the  fall  of  191 5  the  Hindus  in 
America  awaited  word  of  Gupta's  success  in 
Japan.  They  heard  nothing  but  news  of  his  dis- 
appearance. Accordingly  in  December,  Dr. 
Chakravarty,  a  frail  little  Hindu  of  light  choco- 


Hindu-German  Conspiracies  271 

late  complexion,  sailed  from  Hoboken  for  Ger- 
many, traveling  as  a  Persian  merchant,  on  a  false 
passport.  He  made  a  good  impression  on  the 
Foreign  Office,  as  may  be  judged  by  the  foUow- 
K  ing  letter,  dated  January  21,  191 6,  addressed  to 
'    L.  Sachse,  Rotterdam: 

"Dr.  Chakravarty  will  return  to  the  United  States  and 
form  a  working  committee  of  only  five  members,  one  of 
whom  should  be  himself  and  another,  Ram  Chandra.  Li 
addition  to  sending  more  Indians  home  the  new  American 
committee  will  undertake  the  following: 

"i — An  agent  will  be  sent  to  the  West  India  islands, 
where  there  are  nearly  100,000  Indians,  and  will  organize 
the  sending  home  of  as  many  as  possible. 

"They  have  not  yet  been  approached  by  us  and  there  are 
no  such  difficulties  in  the  way  of  their  going  to  India  as 
are  encountered  by  our  countrymen  from  the  United 
States. 

"2 — An  agent  will  be  sent  to  British  Guiana  with  the 
same  object. 

"3 — A  very  reliable  man  will  be  sent  to  Java  and 
Sumatra. 

"4 — It  is  proposed  to  have  pamphlets  printed  and 
circulated  in  and  from  America.  The  literature  will  be 
printed  secretly  and  propaganda  will  be  carried  on  with 
great  vigor. 

"5 — An  effort  will  be  made  to  carry  out  the  plan  of  the 
secret  Oriental  mission  to  Japan.  Dr.  Chakravarty  is  in  a 
jjosition  to  get  letters  of  introduction  to  important  persons 
in  Japan,  as  well  as  a  safe-conduct  for  himself  and  other 
members  of  mission." 


272     The  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

After  conferring  with  Dyal,  Zimmermann,  and 
Undep-secretary  Wesendonk  of  the  Foreign  Of- 
fice, he  was  given  money  and  sent  back  to  the 
United  States,  arriving  in  February,  1916.  He 
at  once  sent  H.  A.  Chen  to  China  to  purchase 
arms  and  ship  them  to  India.*'  He  then  reported 
to  Wolf  von  Igel,  who  paid  him  $40,000  for  the 
purchase  of  a  house  in  120th  Street  and  one  in 
17th  Street.  There  he  held  forth  for  more  than 
a  year,  working  in  conjunction  with  von  Igel,  and 
the  latter  with  the  Embassy  in  Washington.  His 
activities  may  be  indicated,  and  the  complicity  of 
the  German  Government  again  established,  in  the 
following  communications : 

From  von  Igel  to  von  Bernstorff 

"New  York.  Ai)ril  7,  191 6 — A  report  has  been  received 
here  that  Dr.  Chakravarty  was  taken  Monday,  the  3d  of 
April,  to  the  Providence  Hospital  with  concussion  of  the 
brain  in  consequence  of  an  automobile  accident.  His 
convalescence  is  making  good  progress.  A  certain  Ernest 
J.  Euphrat  has  been  here  and  he  came  from  the  Foreign 
Office  and  had  orders  with  respect  to  the  India  propa- 
ganda. He  could  not  identify  himself,  but  made  a  very 
good  impression.  He  told  us  Herr  von  Wesendonk  told 
him  to  say  that  Ram  Chandra's  activity  in  San  Francisco 
was  not  satisfactory.  This  person  should  for  the  time 
being  suspend  his  propaganda  activities." 

"In  re  No.  303 :  Euphrat  was  sent  by  me  to  India  in 
October  of  last  year,  and  is  so  far  as  known  here  reliable. 


Hindu-German  Conspiracies  273 

He  was,  indeed,  recommended  at  the  time  by  Marcus 
Braun,     Please  intimate  to  him  cautiously  that  he  should 
not  speak  too  much  about  his  orders  he  received  in  Berlin. 
San  Francisco  is  being  informed." 
"For  Prince  Hatzfeld." 

From  New  York  to  von  Bernstorff 

"New  York,  April  15,  1916 — Mr.  E.  J.  Euphrat  has 
asked  that  the  inclosed  documents  be  forwarded  to  his 
excellency  in  a  safe  way.  Ke  asks  for  a  reply  as  quickly 
as  possible,  because  if  he  does  not  receive  the  desired  al- 
lowance he  will  have  to  change  the  plans  for  his  journey. 

"(Signed)     K.  N.  St." 

To   H.  Eisenhuth,   Copenhagen,  from  New   York,  and 
unsigned 

"May  2,  1916.  We  have  also  organized  a  Pan-Asiatic 
League,  so  that  some  of  our  members  can  travel  without 
arousing  any  suspicion.  Also  everything  has  been  ar- 
ranged for  the  'mission  to  Japan.'  Please  let  me  know 
when  your  men  can  come,  so  that  we  can  approach  the 
party  more  definitely.  I  had  talks  with  one  of  the  direc- 
tors of  the  Yamato  Shimhnn  of  Tokio  and  Chinvai 
Dempo  of  Kyoto.  It  would  not  be  necessary  to  buy  ofif 
these  papers,  as  they  understand  it  is  to  mutual  interest. 
But  they  ask  for  certain  considerations  to  help  their 
financial  status.  They  are  also  decided  to  attack  Anglo- 
Japanese  treaty  as  antagonistic  to  national  interest.  To 
carry  on  work  it  will  be  necessary  to  place  at  the  dis- 
posal of  the  committee  here  $25,000." 


274     The  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

Cablegram  from  Zimmermann,  Berlin,  to  von  Bernstorff, 
via  von  Luxhnrg,  Buenos  Aires 

"To  Bernstorff,  May  19,  1916:  Berlin  telegraphs  No. 
28  of  May  19.  Answer  to  telegram  23.  Your  excel- 
lency is  empowered  to  give  the  Indians  $20,000.  No.  29 
of  May  19  in  continuation  of  telegram  No.  16.  Please,  in 
making  direct  payments  to  Tarak  Nath  Das,  avoid 
receipts.  Das  will  receipt  own  payment  through  a  third 
party  as  Edward  Schuster. 

"(Signed)     Zimmermann." 

Zimmermann    to   Peking,    transmitted    by   Lu.xbiirg,    to 
Bernstorff  for  Peking  legation 

"The  confidential  agent  of  the  Nationalists  here,  the 
Indian,  Tarak  Nath  Das,  an  American  citizen,  is  leaving 
for  Peking  by  the  Siberian  Railway.  Please  give  him  up 
to  10,000  marks.     Das  will  arrange  the  rest. 

"Zimmermann." 

"Ambassador  at  Washington :     Please  advise  Chakra- 

"LUXBURG." 

From  Bernstorff,  mailed  at  Mt.  Vernon,  N.  Y.,  to  Z.  N.  G. 
OUfiers,  a  German  agent  in  Amsterdam 

"June  16,  1916 — Referring  to  my  letter  A275  of  June  8, 
Chakravarty  reports:  Organization  has  been  almost 
completed,  and  many  of  our  old  members  are  active  and 
free.  "  Only  they  are  afraid  if  arms  are  not  available  soon 
there  may  be  premature  uprising  in  Madras  and  the 
Punjab  as  well  as  in  Bengal.  The  work  in  Japan  is  going 
tmusually  well,  more  than  our  expectations." 


Hindu-German  Conspiracies  275 

From  Berlin  to  Chakravarty 

"July  13,  1 91 6 — In  organizing  work  in  the  United 
States  and  outside,  remember  our  primary  object  is  to 
produce  revolutions  at  home  during  this  war.  Trinidad, 
British  Guiana  and  East  Africa,  including  Zanzibar, 
should  be  particularly  tapped  for  men. 

"We  wired  your  name  to  Francis  E.  M.  Hussain, 
Bachelor  of  Arts,  Barr.  at  Law,  Port  of  Spain,  Trinidad. 
Through  messenger  communicate  full  programme  desired 
in  Trinidad  to  him,  and  mention  the  name  'Binniechatto.' 
He  can  be  trusted.  If,  after  some  secret  work,  you  think 
revolution  can  be  organized  in  island  itself,  then  we  may 
try  to  smuggle  arms,  and  our  men  will  seize  Government 
and  set  up  independent  Hindustani  Republic.  Do  not  let 
such  plan  be  carried  out  if  our  prospects  for  work  at  home 
are  likely  to  be  ruined." 

^         A  report  from  Chakravarty,  written  July  26,  1916 

"I  am  going  to  Vancouver  next  week  to  see  Bhai  Bal- 
want  Singh  and  Nano  Singh  Sihra,  who  have  asked  me 
to  go  there  to  arrange  definite  plan  of  action  for  group 
of  workers  there,  and  then  to  San  Francisco  to  induce 
Ram  Chandra  to  plan  our  committee  here,  and  to  include 
him  and  his  nominees  in  the  said  committee,  so  that  our 
work  does  not  sufifer  in  the  East  by  placing  enemies  on 
their  guard  and  right  track  by  his  thoughtless,  enthusiastic 
writings.  .  .  .  Gupta  is  back  in  New  York  and  has  seen 
me,  but  has  not  submitted  any  report'  ^  We  need  $15,000 
more  for  the  next  six  months  to  carry  out  the  new  plan 
and  to  continue  the  previous  work  undertaken." 


276     The  German  Secret  Service  in  America 


X 


J^ 


From  von  Bernstorjf,  at  Rye,  N.  Y.,  to  Olifiers,  trans- 
mitting Cliakravarty's  report 

"August  5,  1916 — Our  organization  has  been  well  per- 
fected in  the  West  Indies  and  Houssain  has  been  ap- 
proached. We  have  also  enlisted  the  sympathy  of  the 
Gongoles  party,  a  strong  fighting  body  of  colored  people, 
who  have  ramifications  all  over  Central  America,  includ- 
ing British  Guiana  and  Guatemala.  Arms  can  be  easily 
smuggled  there  and  if  we  can  get  some  of  the  German 
officers  in  this  country  to  go  there  and  lead  them  there 
is  every  possibility  that  we  can  hold  quite  a  while.  But 
the  question  is — ask  the  Foreign  Secretary  whether  it  is 
desirable,  for  it  might  simply  create  a  sensation  and  noth- 
ing more.  As  soon  as  we  hold  there  the  Governmental 
power  the  island  would  be  isolated  by  the  British  navy, 
and  the  attitude  of  the  United  States  is  uncertain,  and 
we  may  be  compelled  to  surrender  sooner  or  later ;  but  if 
it  serves  any  purpose  either  as  a  blind  or  otherwise,  and 
after  due  consideration  of  its  advantages  and  disadvan- 
tages, wire  at  once  the  authorities  here  to  give  us  a  few 
officers,  as  we  need  them  badly,  and  other  help  necessary 
to  carry  out  the  plan,  and  it  can  be  done  without  much 
difficulty.  I  believe  if  a  sensation  is  desired  something 
also  can  be  done  in  London,  at  least  should  be  tried.  If 
we  can  get  a  few  men  from  the  Pacific  Coast  we  can  send 

em  easily  as  a  crew  with  a  Dutch  passport. 

"We  are  sending  arms  in  small  quantities  through 
Chinese  coolies  over  the  border  in  Burmah,  but  in  big 
quantities  we  do  not  find  possibility.  However,  we  are 
on  the  lookout.  We  have  been  trying  our  best  with  a 
Japanese  firm  who  have  a  business  affiliation  in  Calcutta, 


Hindu -German  Conspiracies  277 

whether  they  will  undertake  to  transmit  sonic  arms 
through  their  goods. 

"To  complete  the  chain  we  are  sending  Mr.  Chandra 
to  London  as  a  medical  student  in  the  university,  and  he 
will  send  men  and  other  informations  to  you  via  Switzer- 
land. We  are  also  sending  a  few  Chinese  students  to 
China  to  help  us  in  the  work,  and  if  you  want  it  can  also 
be  arranged  they  give  you  a  personal  report  through 
^  Russia  and  Sweden. 

'\  "We  need  $15,000  more,  as  I  return  from  the  Pacific 
Coast,  to  carry  out  these  plans,  excepting  that  of  Trinidad 
oi)erations,  which,  if  you  approve,  wire  at  once  the  mili- 
tary agent  here  to  arrange  to  buy  and  ship  arms  to  us, 
before  the  enemy  can  be  on  guard." 

To  H.  Elsenhuth,  Copenhagen,  in  cipher 

"September  5,  1916 — Arms  can  no  more  be  safely  sent 
to  India  through  Pacific,  except  through  Japanese  mer- 
chandise or  through  China  merchants,  shipped  to  Chinese 
ports  and  then  to  our  border.  Responsible  men  are  will- 
ing to  take  the  risk  and  they  are  willing  to  send  their 
confidential  agents  to  Turaulleur." 

Chakravarty  to  Berlin,  Foreign  Office 

"September  5,  1916 — Li  Yuan  Hung  is  now  President 
of  China.  He  was  formerly  the  southern  revolutionary 
leader.  W.  T.  Wang  was  then  his  private  secretary.  He 
is  now  in  America  and  starting  for  China.  He  says  Li 
Yuan  Hung  is  in  sympathy  with  the  Indian  revolution  and 
would  like  English  pov/er  weakened.  Some  of  the 
prominent  people  are  quite  eager  to  help  India  directly. 


278     Tlie  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

and  Germany  indirectly,  without  exposing  themselves  to 
any  great  risk,  on  three  conditions : 

V  "The  first — Germany  to  make  a  secret  treaty  with 
China,  that  in  case  China  is  attacked  by  any  power  or 
powers,  Germany  will  give  her  military  aid.  It  will  be 
obligatory  for  five  years  after  the  discontinuance  of  the 
present  war  and  there  will  be  an  understanding  that  China 
shall  get  one-tenth  of  all  arms  and  ammunition  she  will 
receive  for  and  deliver  to  the  Indian  revolutionaries  and 

^  the  Indian  border. 

Q.  "In  return,  China  shall  prohibit  the  delivery  of  arms 
and  ammunition  in  the  name  of  the  Chinese  Government 
and  from  China  through  private  sailing  boats  and  by 
coolies  to  any  nearby  jjoint  or  any  border  place  as  directed. 
She  will  help  Indian  revolutionaries  as  she  can,  secretly 
and  in  accord  with  her  own  safety. 

^ :  "But  this  is  to  be  regarded  as  a  feeler  through  a  third 
party,  and,  if  it  is  acceptable  to  the  German  Government, 
then  they  will  send  one  of  their  trusted  representatives  to 
Berlin  to  discuss  the  details  and  plan  of  operations,  and 
if  it  is  settled,  then  negotiations  should  take  place  officially 
and  papers  signed  through  the  embassies  in  Berlin  and 
Peking.  They  want  to  know  the  attitude  of  the  German 
Foreign  Office  as  soon  as  possible  so  that  they  can  set 
the  ball  rolling  for  necessary  arrangements." 

Von  Bernstorff  to  Zimmermann 

"October  13,  1916 — Chakravarty's  reply  is  not  sent;  too 
long.  Require  at  end  of  October  a  further  $15,000.  Ac- 
cording to  news  which  has  arrived  here  Okechi  has  not 
received  the  $2000  and  in  the  meantime  left  Copenhagen. 


Hindu-German  Conspiracies  279 

Please  withhold  payment  until  Polish  National  Committee 
provides  therefor. 

"Bernstgrff." 

To  O lifters,  Amsterdam,  postmarked  Washington 

"November  21,  1916 — Rabindranath  Tagore  has  come 
at  our  suggestion  and  saw  Count  Okuma,  Baron  Shimpei 
Goto,  Masaburo  Suzuki,  Marquis  Yamanouchi,  Count 
Terauchi  and  others ;  Terauchi  is  favorable  and  others 
are  sympathetic.  Rash  Behari  Bose  is  still  there  to  see 
whether  they  can  be  persuaded  to  do  something  positive 
for  our  cause.  S.  Sekunna  and  G.  ]\Iarsushita  are  doing 
their  best.  Yamatashimbun  is  strongly  advocating  our 
cause.  D.  Pal  has  not  come.  Benoy  Sarkar  is  still  in 
China.  Lala  is  willing  to  go,  but  this  passage  could  not 
be  arranged.  As  soon  as  Tilak  arrives  he  will  be  ap- 
proached. Bapat  is  still  free  and  writes  tlxit  he  has  been 
trying  his  best,  but  for  want  of  arms  they  have  not  been 
able  to  do  anything.  Received  a  note  from  Abdul  Kadir 
and  Shamshar  Singh  from  Termes-Buchare  that  they  are 
proceeding  on  slowly  to  their  destination.  Barkatullah 
is  in  Kabul ;  well  received,  lacks  funds.  Mintironakaono 
is  here.  Isam  Uhiroi  is  in  Pekin.  Tarak  has  safely 
reached  there.  Our  publication  work  is  going  on  well. 
We  have  brought  out  seven  pamphlets  and  one  in  the 
press.  We  are  waiting  for  definite  instructions  as  to  the 
work  in  Trinidad  and  Damrara. 

"Wu  Ting  Fang  has  been  now  made  the  Foreign 
Minister.  He  has  always  been  sympathetic  v/ith  our 
cause.  But  the  influence  of  Sun  Yat  Sen  still  persists  in 
opposing  us  in  that  direction." 


280     The  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

Zimnicrmann  to  Bcrnstorff 

"December  20,  19 16 — According  to  Chakravarty,  the 
Indians  were  paid  up  to  September  30  $30,000.  Total 
credit  for  Indians,  $65,000. 

"ZiMMERMANN." 

Zimmermann  to  Bernstorff 

"January  4,  1917 — very  secret.  The  Japanese,  Hideo 
Nakao,  is  traveHng  to  America  with  imi)ortant  instruc- 
tions from  the  Indian  Committee.  He  is  to  deal  exclu- 
sively with  Chakravarty.  Please,  after  consultation  with 
Chakravarty,  inform  Imperial  Minister  at  Peking  and  the 
Imperial  Consulate  at  Shanghai  that  they  are  to  send  in 
Nakao's  reports  regularly.  I  advise  giving  Nakao  in  in- 
stahments  up  to  fifty  thousand  dollars  in  all  for  the  exe- 
cution of  his  plans  in  America  and  Eastern  Asia.  Deci- 
sion as  to  the  utiHty  of  the  separate  payments  is  left  to 
your  excellency  and  the  Imperial  Legation  at  Peking. 
Despatch  follows. 

"(Signed)     Zimmermann." 

On  March  7,  191 7,  Guy  Scull,  deputy  police 
commissioner  in  New  York,  with  eight  detectives, 
called  at  364  West  120th  Street,  found  Dr.  Cha- 
kravarty clad  in  a  loin  cloth,  and  arrested  him  on 
a  charge  of  setting  afoot  a  military  enterprise 
against  the  Emperor  of  India.  With  Sekunna, 
a  German  who  had  been  writing  tracts  for  him, 
he  was  later  transferred  to  San  Francisco  to  stand 
trial.  The  typewriter  in  the  120th  Street  house, 
whose  characteristics — all  typewriters  are  as  in- 


-> 


Hindu-German  Conspiracies  281 

dividual  and  as  identifiable  as  finger-prints — had 
betrayed  the  conspirators,  lay  idle  for  many 
months,  but  as  late  as  March  i8,  19 18,  a  Hindu, 
Sailandra  Nath  Ghose,  who  had  collaborated  with 
Taraknath  Das  in  writing  a  propaganda  work 
called  ''The  Isolation  of  J^p^m  in  world  politics,'" 
yv'as  arrested  there  in  company  with  a  German 
>voman,  Agnes  Smedley.  The  two  were  accused 
of  violating  the  espionage  act  by  representing 
themselves  to  be  diplomatic  agents  of  the  Indian 
Nationalist  Party,  and  of  having  sent  an  appeal 
for  aid  in  the  establishment  of  a  democratic  fed- 
erated republic  in  India  to  the  Brazilian  Embassy 
in  Washington,  to  Leon  Trotzky  in  Russia,  and  to 
the  Governments  of  Panama,  Paraguay,  Chile 
and  other  neutral  nations. 

In  the  course  of  the  years  1916  and  1917  the 
Government  built  up  an  unusually  exhaustive  and 
troublesome  case  for  nearly  one  hundred  defend- 
ants, including  the  personnel  of  the  San  Fran- 
cisco consulate,  the  German  consul  at  Honolulu 
(who  had  supplied  the  Maverick  in  Hilo  Har- 
bor ^),  a  large  group  of  Hindu  students,  a  smaller 
group  of  war  brokers,  and  numerous  lesser  in- 
termediaries. Their  trial  was  one  of  the  most 
cumbersome  and  interesting  cases  ever  heard  in 

iThe  Maverick  was  lost  in  a  typhoon  off  th»  Philippines  in 
August,   19 1 7. 


282     The  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

an  American  court.     It  began  on  Novemher  19, 

1917,  in  San  Francisco,  with  Judge  Van  Fleet  on 
the  bench.  Witness  after  witness  recited  his 
story  of  adventure,  each  stranger  than  the  last, 
and  all  stranger  than  fiction.  Lieutenant  von 
Brincken,  one  of  the  San  Francisco  consulate, 
pleaded  guilty  within  a  few  weeks ;  his  sentence 
was  long  deferred  by  the  prosecution  on  ac- 
count, presumabably,  of  evidence  which  he  sup- 
plied the  Government.  George  Rodiek,  the  Ger- 
man consul  in  Honolulu,  followed  suit  and  was 
fined  heavily ;  Jodh  Singh  turned  state's  evidence 
and  presently  his  mind  became  diseased  and  he 
was  committed  to  an  asylum;  the  procedure 
was  interrupted  from  time  to  time  with  wran- 
gles among  the  defendants,  and  on  one  occa- 
sion Franz  Bopp,  the  San  Francisco  consul, 
shouted  to  one  of  his  fellows,  ''You  are  spoiling 
the  whole  case!"  When  the  Government, 
through  United  States  Attorney  Preston,  intro- 
duced evidence  from  the  Department  of  State, 
the  Flindus  attempted  to  subpoena  Secretary  Lans- 
ing; when  Bryan's  pacifist  tracts  were  introduced 
the    defendants    sought    Bryan.     On   April    t8, 

1918,  Chakravarty  confessed,  to  the  irritation  of 
the  other  defendants.  The  climax  in  melodrama 
occurred  on  the  afternoon  of  April  23,  19 18, 
when,  with  the  case  all  but  concluded,  Ram  Singh 


Hindu-German  Conspiracies  283 

shot  and  killed  Ram  Chandra  in  the  courtroom. 
A  moment  later  Ram  Singh  lay  dead,  his  neck 
broken  by  a  bullet  fired  over  the  heads  of  the  at- 
torneys by  United  States  Marshal  Holohan. 
That  afternoon  Judge  Van  Fleet  delivered  his 
charge  to  the  jury;  that  night  a  verdict  of  guilty 
was  returned  against  twenty-nine  of  the  thirty- 
two  defendants  who  had  not  been  dismissed  as 
the  trial  proceeded. 

Judge  Van  Fleet,  on  April  30,  1918,  pronounced 
tli£-iDllowing  sentences : 
j^  '  Franz  Bopp,  German  consul  in  San  Francisco, 
two  years  in  the  penitentiary  and  $10,000  fine; 
F.  H.  von  Schack,  vice-consul,  the  same  punish- 
ment; Lieutenant  von  Brincken,  military  attache 
of  the  consulate,  two  years'  imprisonment  wnth- 
out  fine;  Walter  Sauerbeck,  lieutenant  comman- 
der in  the  German  navy,  an  officer  of  the  Geier  in- 
terned in  Honolulu,  one  year's  imprisonment  and 
$2,000  fine;  Charles  Lattendorf,  von  Brincken's 
secretary,  one  year  in  jail;  Edwin  Deinat,  mas- 
ter of  the  German  ship  Holsaiia,  interned  in 
Honolulu,  a  term  of  ten  months  in  jail  and  a  fine 
of  $1,500;  Heinrich  Fell)o,  master  of  the  German 
ship  Ahlers,  interned  in  Hilo,  Hawaii,  six  months 
in  jail  and  a  fine  of  $1,000^  These  men  may  be 
described  as  the  loyal  German  group.| 
Robert  Capelle,  agent  in  San  Francisco  of  the 


284)     Tlie  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

North  German  Lloyd  line,  fifteen  months'  impris- 
onment and  a  fine  of  $7,500;  Harry  J.  Hart,  a 
San  Francisco  shipping  man,  six  months  in  jail 
and  a  fine  of  $5,000;  Joseph  Bley  of  the  firm  of 
C.  D.  Blinker  &  Co.,  customs  brokers,  fifteen 
months  in  prison  and  a  fine  of  $5,000;  Moritz 
Stack  von  Goltzheim,  a  real  estate  and  insurance 
broker,  six  months  in  jail  and  $1,000  fine;  Louis 
T.  Hengstler,  an  admiralty  lawyer  and  professor 
in  the  University  of  California  and  in  Hastings 
Law  College,  a  fine  of  $5,000;  Bernard  Manning, 
a  real  estate,  insurance  and  employment  agent  in 
San  Diego,  nine  months  in  jail  and  a  fine  of 
$1,000;  and  J.  Clyde  Hizar,  a  former  city  attor- 
ney in  Coronado  and  assistant  paymaster  in  the 
United  States  Navy,  one  year's  imprisonment  and 
a  fine  of  $5, 000.-^ These  gentlemen  constituted 
the  so-called  "shipping  group"  which  w^as  inti- 
mately concerned  with  the  affairs  of  the  Annie 
Larsen  and  the  Maverick^ 

Dr.  Chakravarty,  who  had  been  delegated  by 
no  less  a  personage  than  Zimmermann  of  Berlin 
to  handle  all  Indian  intrigue  in  America,  received 
a  crushing  sentence  of  sixty  days  in  jail  and  a 
fine  of  $5,000.  Bhagwan  Singh,  the  "poet  of  the 
revolution,"  was  sentenced  to  eighteen  months  in 
the  penitentiary;  Taraknath  Das,  the  author  and 
lecturer,  to  twenty-two  months'  imprisonment; 


Copyright,  Internationa/  Film  Sr, 


Dr.  Chakravarty  (on  the  right) ,  the  accredited  agent  of  Ger- 
many in  the  Hindu-German  intrigues  in  America.  With 
him  is  Ernest  Sekunna,  also  a  German  agent, 
arrested  with  Chakravarty 


Hindu-German  Conspiracies  285 

Gobind  Behari  Lai,  the  University  of  California 
student,  to  ten  months  in  jail.  The  smaller  fry 
of  the  University  of  Calif  ornia-G" /lat/r  group  were 
disposed  of  as  follows:  Nandekar  to  three 
months  in  jail,  Ghoda  Ram  to  eleven  months, 
Sarkar,  who  had  been  in  Japan  wnth  Gupta,  to 
four  months,  Munshi  Ram  (of  the  Ghadr  staff) 
to  sixty  days,  Imam  Din  to  four  months,  Nerajan 
Das  to  six  months,  Singh  Hindi  to  nine  months, 
Santokh  Singh  to  twenty-one  months  in  the  peni- 
tentiary, Gopalm  Singh  to  one  year  and  a  day,  and 
Nidhan  Singh  to  four  months. 

Those  defendants  who  remained  had  not  been 
allowed  at  large  on  bail,  thanks  to  the  vigilance  of 
Preston.  Yet  in  spite  of  all  precautions,  the  pro- 
ceedings frequently  threatened  to  get  out  of  con- 
trolV^The  United  States  had  been  at  war  for  a 
year;  the  Federal  Court  was  trying  both  alien 
enemies  of  military  status  and  alien  enemies  who 
had  engaged  in  and  stood  convicted  of  conspiracy, 
as  well  as  conspirators  against  the  rule  of  Britain 
in  India  who  had  revolution  quite  definitely  in 
mind.^  Great  Britain,  for  six  months  before  the 
trial  began,  had  been  our  ally  and,  in  spirit  at 
least,  a  traitor  to  Great  Britain  was  a  traitor  to 
the  United  States.  In  spirit,  but  not  in  the  letter 
of  the  law :  the  worst  punishment  which  any  ex- 
isting statutes  could  impose  on  any  single  defend- 


286     The  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

ant  found  wholly  and  completely  guilty  of  the 
charge  was  two  years'  imprisonment  and  a  fine  of 
$10,000.  For  such  conviction,  and  for  such  pun- 
ishment of  the  United  States'  military  enemies, 
the  prosecution  clambered  about  through  the 
tangle  of  civil  procedure;  v;e  had  been  six  months 
at  war  and  laws  had  not  been  supplied  to  facilitate 
the  swift  justice  due  such  enemies,  nor  have  laws 
been  supplied  as  this  is  written.  More  than 
eighty  "court  days"  were  consumed,  the  short- 
hand reporting  alone  cost  more  than  $35,000.  A 
court  commissioner  released  four  important  wit- 
nesses ''for  want  of  evidence."  (One  of  them 
was  indicted  in  New  York  and  the  commissioner 
was  himself  dismissed. )  Gupta,  arrested  in  New 
York,  was  released  on  bail  and  swiftly  fled  across 
the  Mexican  border  to  continue  his  propaganda. 
Trying  as  the  case  was  to  all  who  were  con- 
cerned in  it,  expeditiously  as  it  was  handled  by 
the  authorities,  and  informative  as  it  proved  to 
be,  it  was  monumental  in  its  confession  that  civil 
courts  cannot  act  with  the  warning  vigor  and 
speed  made  necessary  by  war  conditions. 
-^  The  evidence  introduced  pointed  clearly  to  the 
conclusion  that  the  German-Hindu  plot,  complex 
as  it  is  to  us  as  critics,  was  unfruitful  even  to 
Berlin.  Perhaps  its  very  breadth  made  it  awk- 
ward to  manage.     Nearly   four  years   of  war 


Hindu-German  Consjnracies  287 

passed,  and  there  was  no  mutiny  in  India.  The 
stewards  of  the  Indian  domain  knew  anxious  mo- 
ments, but  they  found  some  solace  in  the  reaHza- 
tion  that  half  way  around  the  world,  in  the  United 
States,  there  was  a  pair  of  eyes  to  watch  every 
pair  of  mischievous  hands,  and  that  the  conspir- 
acy directed  against  the  Orient  could  not  take 
effect  while  those  eyes  were  open. 

It  requires  no  special  gift  of  prophecy  to  pre- 
dict that  secret  conspiracies  will  continue  unless 
those  eyes  are  more  vigilant  than  ever.  The 
United  States  Attorney  announced  as  the  con- 
spirators were  being  sentenced  that  he  felt  that 
the  court  might  well  instruct  their  dark  associates 
to  "cut  out  their  propaganda,"  and  that  their 
Gahdr  presses  were  even  then  turning  out  "bar- 
rels and  bales  of  seditious  literature."  To  this 
Judge  Van  Fleet  gravely  responded : 

"The  people  are  going  to  take  the  law  into  their 
own  hands,  as  much  as  we  regret  it.  The  citi- 
zens of  this  country  are  going  to  suppress  mani- 
festations hostile  to  our  allies." 


CHAPTER  XVII 

MEXICO,    IRELAND,    AND   BOLO 

Huerta  arrives  in  New  York — The  restoration  plot — 
German  intrigue  in  Central  America — The  Zimmermann 
note — Sinn  Fein — Sir  Roger  Casement  and  the  Easter 
Rebellion — Bolo  Pacha  in  America  and  France — A 
warning. 

Germany  learned  during  President  Roosevelt's 
administration  that  the  Monroe  Doctrine  was  not 
to  be  tampered  with.  The  United  States  stood 
squarely  upon  a  policy  of  "hands  off  Latin  Amer- 
ica." But  both  commercial  and  diplomatic  Ger- 
many were  attracted  by  the  bright  colors  of  the 
somewhat  kaleidoscopic  political  condition  of  the 
Central  and  South  American  nations.  In  po- 
litical confusion,  Mexico,  at  the  outbreak  of  w^ar, 
led  all  the  rest.  This  suited  Germany's  pur- 
pose perfectly — provided  that  at  least  one  fac- 
tion in  Mexico  might  be  susceptible  to  her  influ- 
ence. The  first  three  years  of  war  proved  to 
the  satisfaction  of  the  most  skeptical  that  Mexi- 
can unrest  would  trouble  the  United  States,  and 

288 


Mexico,  Ireland,  and  Bolo  289 

it  was  upon  this  theory  that  Germany  long  before 
1 9 14  baited  her  hook  for  Mexico. 

Propagandists  in  our  neighbor  republic  added 
fuel  to  the  already  brisk  flame  of  native  hostility 
to  the  Yankee.  A  considerable  German  commer- 
cial colony  grew  up,  assimilated  the  language  and 
customs  of  Mexico,  and  bade  fair  to  be  a  strong 
competitor  in  the  development  of  the  huge  natural 
resources  waiting  there  for  foreign  capital.  By 
1914  Germany  had  evidently  expected  to  be  in  a 
position  sufficient!}^  strong  to  enlist  Mexico  on 
her  side  in  case  the  United  States  gave  trouble. 
The  reader  will  recall  that  Admiral  von  Hintze 
in  the  summer  of  191 4  had  recommended  Captain 
von  Papen  for  a  decoration  for  having  organized 
a  fair  military  unit  of  the  Germans  in  Mexico. 
That  same  summer,  however,  saw  Mexico  with 
troubles  of  her  own,  and  German  eftorts  against 
the  United  States  through  Mexico  had  to  be  post- 
poned. 

Early  in  1914  General  Huerta,  an  unscrupu- 
lous, powerful  and  dissolute  factionist,  had  ex- 
ecuted a  coup  d'etat  which  placed  him  in  the 
president's  chair.  Pie  at  once  advertised  for 
bids.  The  United  States  had  no  intention  of  pro- 
tecting him,  and  in  order  to  stop  at  its  source  any 
trouble  which  might  prove  too  attractive  to  a  for- 
eign power,  placed  an  embargo  upon  the  shipment 


290     The  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

of  American  arms  into  Mexico,  The  American 
fleet  was  despatched  to  Vera  Cruz  to  see  that  the 
order  was  carried  out.  The  steamship  Ypiranga, 
with  a  cargo  of  arms,  succeeded  in  eluding  the 
fleet,  and  under  orders  from  the  German  admiral, 
and  the  direction  of  Karl  Heynen,  the  arms  were 
landed. 

Huerta  had  promised  the  presidency  to  Felix 
Diaz.  In  order  to  get  him  out  of  the  way  he  sent 
Diaz  to  negotiate  a  Japanese  understanding. 
The  United  States  gently  diverted  Seiior  Diaz 
from  his  mission.  Huerta  began  to  lose  the  grip 
he  held;  three  other  factionists.  Villa,  Carranza 
and  Zapata,  each  at  the  head  of  an  army,  were 
aiming  at  his  head,  and  shortly  before  the  world 
went  to  war  the  old  rogue  fled  to  Barcelona. 

There  Rintelen  negotiated  with  him  in  Feb- 
ruary, 191 5,  and  out  of  their  conferences  grew  a 
plan  to  restore  him  to  the  Mexican  presidency. 
This  plan  would  have  meant  war  between  Mexico 
and  the  United  States,  which  was  precisely  what 
von  Rintelen  and  his  Wilhelmstrasse  friends  de- 
sired: American  forces  would  have  to  be  mobil- 
ized at  the  Rio  Grande,  and  American  munitions, 
destined  for  the  Allies,  would  have  to  be  com- 
mandeered and  diverted  to  Mexico. 

The  aged  general  arrived  in  New  York  in 
April,  and  was  interviewed  and  photographed. 


Mexico,  Ireland,  and  Bolo  291 

He  told  the  public  through  the  newspapers  that 
he  proposed  to  acquire  an  estate  on  Long  Island 
and  the  public  considered  it  not  inauspicious  that 
the  veteran  warrior  should  have  come  to  pass  the 
remainder  of  his  stormy  life  in  the  world's  most 
peaceful  country.  Fortunately  for  the  peace  of 
the  United  States  not  every  one  believed  him. 

Within  a  week  of  his  arrival  von  Rintelen 
slipped  into  New  York.  He  placed  in  the 
Havana  branch  of  the  Deutsches  Bank  and  in 
banks  in  Mexico  City  some  $800,000  to  Huerta's 
credit,  and  within  a  short  time  the  political  jack- 
als who  lived  on  foreign  subsidy  began  to  prick 
up  their  ears.  Von  Papen  and  Boy-Ed  had  made 
trips  to  the  Mexican  border,  arranging  through 
their  consular  agents  in  the  Mexican  towns 
across  the  river  the  mobilization  of  Germans  in 
Mexico,  the  storing  of  supplies  and  ammunition, 
and  the  deposit  of  funds  in  banks  at  Brownsville, 
El  Paso,  San  Antonio  and  Douglas.  Not  all 
Mexicans  in  the  United  States  were  ELuertistas, 
however,  and  one  Raphael  Nieto,  Assistant-Secre- 
tary of  Finance  to  Carranza,  was  quite  as  eager 
to  follow  Huerta's  activities  as  were  the  agents 
of  the  United  States.  The  Carranzistas  joined 
forces  with  the  Secret  Service  and  found  out  that 
the  plot  had  already  begun  to  develop. 

During  the  month  of  May,  Huerta  frequently 


292     Tlie  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

met  a  member  of  the  German  Embassy  at  the 
Hotel  McAlpin.  Von  Rintelen  was  clever 
enough  not  to  negotiate  in  person,  but  he  dined 
frequently  with  the  Embassy  member.  Much  of 
what  had  occurred  at  these  conferences  in  the 
McAlpin  was  known  to  government  agents,  who 
had  been  concealed  where  they  could  take  notes 
on  the  conversation.  On  June  i,  191 5,  General 
Huerta,  with  Jose  Ratner,  his  "financial  adviser," 
held  a  conference  in  the  Holland  House  with  a 
former  Huertista  cabinet  minister,  a  son  of  the 
Mexican  general,  Angeles,  and  certain  other  per- 
sonages who  purposed  to  take  part  in  the  revolu- 
tion for  the  sake  of  this  world.  One  of  the  men 
present  was  a  Carranza  spy,  and  through  him  it 
became  known  that  Huerta  outlined  that  he  had 
ten  millions  of  dollars  for  immediate  use  in  a  plot 
to  restore  him  to  his  former  position,  twice  that 
sum  in  reserve,  and  that  more  would  be  forthcom- 
ing if  necessary.  Arms  and  ammunition,  he  said, 
would  be  shipped  into  Mexico  secretly,  supplies 
would  be  accumulated  at  certain  border  towns, 
and  envoys  had  already  been  sent  to  incite  deser- 
tion from  the  armies  of  Carranza  and  Villa. 

Rintelen  did  not  know  that  the  Carranzistas 
had  sold  out  to  the  authorities.  Rintelen  had  al- 
ready purchased  some  $3,000,000  worth  of  arms 
and  cartridges,  and  he  was  prepared  to  see  the  en- 


Mexico,  Ireland,  and  Bolo  293 

terprise  to  a  successful  conclusion.  Incidentally 
he  was  quietly  supplying-  six  other  Mexican  fac- 
tions with  funds  in  case  Huerta's  measure  of  suc- 
cess should  prove  too  intoxicating. 

Because  he  was  a  figure  of  considerable  inter- 
national notoriety  and  indisputable  news  inter- 
est, the  press  had  been  following  Huerta's  move- 
ments with  strict  attention.  Affairs  at  the 
border  were  not  reassuring  and  there  persisted 
the  feeling  that  Huerta  in  the  United  States  held 
promise  of  Huerta  once  more  in  Mexico.  In 
July,  his  agent,  Ratner,  issued  the  following 
frank  though  apparently  ingenious  statement: 

''General  Huerta  and  those  of  us  associated 
with  him  are  confident  that  the  whole  Mexican 
situation  will  be  cleared  up  within  ninety  days. 
We  believe  that  to  rule  the  country  is  a  one-man 
job.  And  in  that  time  we  expect  that  one  man 
to  come  forward  and  unite  the  country.  General 
Huerta  does  not  care  to  indicate  the  man  he  has 
in  mind,  but  he  is  from  our  viewpoint  a  true  pa- 
triot, and  naturally  that  excludes  both  Carranza 
and  Villa. 

"General  Huerta  may  or  may  not  return  to 
Mexico  some  day,  and  may  or  may  not  hold  office 
there  again.  At  present  he  is  giving  himself  up 
wholly  to  an  agreeable  and  home  life  in  this  city 
(New  York)." 


294     The  German  Secret  Service  in  ^imerica 

Whether  or  not  General  Huerta  was  to  "return 
to  Mexico  some  day"  depended  upon  the  temper 
of  the  United  States.  He  knew  that  when  he 
authorized  the  statement.  He  did  not  know — or 
else  he  was  incredibly  bold — that  the  Government 
was  in  possession  of  the  whole  story,  and  that 
orders  had  been  issued  from  the  highest  source  in 
the  country  not  to  let  him  return.  One  day  in  the 
late  summer  he  slipped  away,  ostensibly  to  visit 
the  San  Francisco  Exposition.  Government 
agents  shadowed  him  and  let  him  make  his  own 
pace.  He  took  the  southern  route,  and  traveled 
so  quietly  that  his  flight  was  not  publicly  marked 
until  he  had  passed  through  Kansas  City.  As  he 
approached  the  border  he  became  as  eager  as  a 
boy  at  the  prospect  of  his  'return  from  Elba'; 
then,  as  he  was  almost  in  sight  of  the  soil  from 
which  he  had  been  exiled,  he  was  arrested  on  a 
technical  charge  and  jailed. 

In  August  Rintelen  fled  the  country.  The 
Providence  Journal  had  just  published  an  irritat- 
ing charge  that  Boy-Ed  was  carrying  on  negoti- 
ations with  Mexico;  the  German  Embassy  de- 
nied the  charge,  although  Boy-Ed  with  his 
knowledge  of  Mexico  had  assisted  ably  in  the 
plot;  and  the  excitement  of  official  interest  in 
Huerta's  recent  connections  made  von  Rintelen 
nervous.     When  he  was  captured  at  Falmouth 


Mexico,  Irelmid,  and  Bolo  295 

by  the  British,  his  man-Friday,  Andrew  V.  Me- 
loy,  confessed  that  he  had  inadvertently  tipped 
over  the  plot  when  he  had  innocently  telephoned 
a  Carranzista  to  find  out,  for  safety  sake,  whether 
the  Carranza  party  suspected  Huerta.  It  was 
this  Carranzista  who  made  a  few  inquiries  of  his 
own,  and  succeeded  in  planting  the  spy  in  the 
Holland  House  meeting. 

The  aged  general,  although  he  was  transferred 
to  a  more  comfortable  prison,  took  his  confine- 
ment bitterly.  His  dream  had  been  bright  in- 
deed, and  it  had  been  bluntly  interrupted.  As  the 
autumn  came  on  his  health  showed  signs  of  fail- 
ing, and  his  career  of  dissipation  began  to  total 
the  final  reckoning.  The  illness  became  grave, 
and  after  two  surgical  attempts  to  save  his  life, 
he  died  in  January,  1916,  heartbroken. 

Von  Eckhart,  the  minister  to  Mexico  City,  was 
to  Mexico  what  Bernstorif  was  to  the  United 
States  and  he  employed  faithfully  the  familiar 
tactics  of  his  superior :  revolution,  editorial  prop- 
aganda, filibustering  and  double  dealing.  In  the 
fall  of  1 91 6  the  fine  German  hand  could  be  seen 
prompting  a  note  sent  by  Alexico  to  the  United 
States  urging  an  embargo  on  the  shipment  on 
munitions  and  foodstuffs  to  the  warring  nations 
(Mexico  had  neither  foodstuffs  nor  munitions  to 
supply).     And  in  December,  191 6,  Eckhart  was 


296     TJie  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

robbed  of  the  achievement  of  a  conspiracy  of 
fantastic  proportions. 

In  order  to  appreciate  the  fantasy,  one  must 
bear  in  mind  the  temperament  of  a  Central  Ameri- 
can. Eckhart  and  his  colleague,  Lehmann,  Ger- 
man minister  to  Guatemala,  proposed  to  harness 
that  temperament  to  a  German  wagon  and  drive 
the  Latin  republics  to  the  formation  of  "the 
United  States  of  Central  America,"  which  pre- 
sumably would  have  borne  a  Prussian  eagle  in 
the  field  of  its  ensign. 

Carranza  disliked  Cabrera  of  Guatemala;  so, 
too,  did  Dr.  Irias,  a  Nicaraguan  liberal.  Certain 
factions  in  Honduras  disapproved  of  their  presi- 
dent; certain  factions  in  Guatemala  could  be 
counted  on  to  support  revolution  against  Cabrera; 
Dr.  Irias,  the  defeated  candidate,  disliked  Emili- 
ano  Chammorra,  the  President  of  Nicaragua, 
enormously.  What  more  natural  than  that  they 
combine  forces  and  with  German  money  and 
arms  kindle  not  one  revolution  but  a  series  of 
them,  with  an  invasion  thrown  in  for  good  meas- 
ure? Accordingly  they  conferred  with  a  Salva- 
dorean politician,  a  Cuban  revolutionist,  and  an 
associate  of  the  Costa  Rican  minister  of  war. 
The  cast  complete,  they  planned  to  assemble  revo- 
lutionary forces,  with  German  military  advisers, 
on  the  coast  of  Salvador.     Using  Salvador  as  a 


Mexico,  Ireland,  and  Bolo  297 

base,  attacks  were  to  be  made  upon  Nicaragua 
and  Guatemala,  and  at  the  proper  time  Carranza 
was  to  invade  Guatemala  from  the  north.  Co- 
lombia's services  were  to  be  enlisted  by  the  prom- 
ise of  restoration  of  the  Republic  of  Panama — 
originally  a  Colombian  province.  As  soon  as  the 
combined  revolutionaries  had  succeeded  in  over- 
throwing their  governments,  they  were  to  form 
the  United  States  of  Central  America,  with  Irias 
as  president,  and  William  of  Hohenzollern  as 
counsel. 

Our  levity  is  pointed  not  at  the  Central  Ameri- 
can temperament  and  political  instability,  but 
rather  towards  the  grotesquely  serious  objective 
of  the  German  plotters.  If  their  military  forces 
had  been  Prussian  shock  troops  the}''  would  cer- 
tainly have  succeeded.  The  use  of  a  Mexican 
gunboat  to  transport  German  officers  with  an  air- 
plane and  wireless  apparatus  from  Mexico  to 
Salvador  exposed  the  plan.  President  Cabrera 
of  Guatemala  had  a  small  but  effective  force  of 
thirty  thousand  men,  and  a  well-equipped  artil- 
lery, armed — and  he  was  prepared  for  attack 
from  either  frontier.  He  also  enjoyed  the  con- 
fidence of  Washington,  and  he  informed  Wash- 
ington at  once  what  was  afoot.  The  answer  ar- 
rived presently  in  the  shape  of  the  American 
fleet,  on  a  peaceful  expedition  to  survey  the  Gulf 


298     IVie  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

of  Fonseca,  its  newly  acquired  Nicaragitan  naval 
base.  The  revolutions  failed  for  want  of  revo- 
lutionists, the  German  enterprise  failed  for  want 
of  revolutions,  and  of  the  conspirators  only  one, 
Tinoco  of  Costa  Rica,  succeeded  in  capitalizing 
the  unrest  by  a  coup  d'etat  which  made  him  presi- 
dent. The  plot  never  reached  maturity  in  Co- 
lombia or  Panama. 

Before  dismissing  it  from  consideration,  how- 
ever, it  is  worth  a  moment's  analysis.  With  any 
degree  of  success  it  would  have  distracted  the 
United  States,  and  perhaps  have  involved  her 
marine  corps  as  well  as  her  navy.  It  contained 
possibilities  of  war  between  Mexico  and  the 
United  States.  It  projected  a  blow  at  the  Pan- 
ama Canal.  It  concerned  a  territory  in  which 
commercially  as  well  diplomatically  the  United 
States  had  definite  concern  and  in  which  Ger- 
many had  already  shown  a  greedy  interest.  In- 
cidentally it  reveals — in  its  offer  to  Colombia — 
the  same  diplomatic  technique  as  that  which  was 
shortly  to  startle  the  United  States  into  the  last 
step  towards  war,  the  so-called  '^Zimmermann 
note." 

At  3  A.  M.  (Berlin  time)  on  January  19,  1917, 
the  following  message  was  sent  by  wireless  to 
Count  von  Bernstorff  from  the  Foreign  Office : 


Mexico,  Ireland,  and  Bolo  299 

"Berlin,  January  19,  19 17. 

"On  the  first  of  February  we  intend  to  begin  submarine 
warfare  unrestricted.  In  spite  of  this  it  is  our  endeavor 
to  keep  neutral  the  United  States  of  America. 

"If  this  is  not  successful  we  propose  an  alliance  on  the 
following  basis  with  Mexico:  That  we  shall  make  war 
together  and  together  shall  make  peace.  We  shall  give 
general  financial  support  and  it  is  understood  that  Mexico 
is  to  recover  the  lost  territory  in  New  Mexico,  Texas  and 
Arizona.     The  details  are  left  to  you  for  settlement. 

"You  are  also  instructed  to  inform  the  president  of 
Mexico  of  the  above  in  the  greatest  confidence  as  soon  as 
it  is  certain  there  will  be  an  outbreak  of  war  with  the 
United  States  and  suggest  that  the  President  of  Mexico 
on  his  own  initiative  should  communicate  with  Japan  sug- 
gesting adherence  at  once  to  this  plan;  at  the  same  time 
offer  to  mediate  between  Germany  and  Japan. 

"Please  call  to  the  attention  of  the  President  of  Mexico 
that  the  employment  of  ruthless  submarine  warfare  now 
promises  to  compel  England  to  make  peace  in  a  few 
months. 

"(Signed)     Zimmermann." 

This  document  was  decoded  from  the  official 
dictionary  cipher  and  laid  in  the  hands  of  Presi- 
dent Wilson  almost  immediately  following  the 
rupture  of  diplomatic  relations.  It  was  made 
public  on  February  28,  when  the  public  temper 
was  at  whitest  heat.  Mexico  did  not  repudiate 
the  note  at  once,  and  four  days  later  despatched 
a  denial  of  having  received  any  such  proposal 


300     TJie  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

as  Zimmermann  had  suggested.  Eckhart  \vas 
forcing  Carranza's  hand  with  the  lure  of  the  pro- 
jected Central  American  enterprise  already  out- 
lined. ( Eckhart  had  had  Carranza  so  completely 
under  his  influence  at  one  time  that  when  the 
United  States  despatched  to  JMexico  a  friendly 
note  warning  her  of  the  presence  of  German  sub- 
marines in  the  Gulf,  Mexico  retorted — at  Eck- 
hart's  literal  dictation — that  the  United  States 
might  do  v.ell  to  ask  the  British  Navy  why  it  did 
not  prevent  German  undersea  craft  from  ap- 
proaching the  Americas.)  The  month  of  March 
fled  by,  and  America  went  to  war ;  since  that  date 
no  official  expression  except  one  of  praise  for 
Mexico's  attitude  of  amiable  neutrality  has  is- 
sued from  Washington. 

Just  as  the  proximity  of  Mexico  to  the  United 
States  had  for  a  number  of  years  past  carried 
with  it  the  possibility,  almost  the  certainty,  of 
differences  between  the  two  countries,  rising  out 
of  the  temperamental  differences  of  their  peoples, 
so  for  a  longer  period  had  Ireland  and  England 
suffered  for  their  contiguity.  It  is  a  truism  to 
remark  that  the  Irishman  cherishes  his  national 
grievances,  but  that  characteristic  accounts  for  a 
further  phase  of  German  intrigue  on  American 
soil.  Hatred  of  England  sent  many  thousands 
of  Irish  to  the  United  States  in  the  past  fifty 


Mexico,  Ireland,  and  Bolo  301 

years.  They  found  it  a  country  to  their  hking, 
which  England  was  not,  and  aUhough  they  had 
become  indissolubly  attached  to  their  adopted 
land,  there  were  in  America  in  1914  (and  there 
are  in  1918)  numerous  Irish  who  had  no  dearer 
wish  than  that  England  come  off  second  best  in 
the  great  war.  Allies  after  Germany's  own 
heart  they  were,  therefore.  They  had  been  cul- 
tivated long  since:  in  1909,  when  plans  were  be- 
ing made  for  a  centenary  celebration  in  1914  of 
the  peace  that  had  reigned  between  the  United 
States  and  England,  German-American  and 
Irish-American  interests  began  to  raise  a  struc- 
ture of  their  own,  exploiting  the  prominence 
which  certain  Germans,  such  as  Franz  Sigel  and 
Carl  Schurz,  had  enjoyed  in  the  construction  of 
the  nation.  The  programme  of  these  interests 
included  the  erection  of  elaborate  memorials  over 
the  graves  of  prominent  German  Americans,  the 
dissemination  of  legends  of  German  heroes  in 
America,  and  more  practically  the  frustrating  of 
the  projected  Peace  Centenary. 

Many  of  the  organizations  thus  united  for  a 
practical  purpose  found  a  clearing-house  in  the 
American  Truth  Society,  of  which  Jeremiah 
O'Leary  was  the  head.  Although  the  Centennial 
Celebration  itself  was  rudely  interrupted  by  the 
advent  of  war,  the  German-Irish  acquaintance- 


302     The  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

ship  was  nourished  by  the  German  propagandists 
in  America.  They  observed  with  pleasure  the 
circulation  by  the  Clan-na-Gael  of  cards  inform- 
ing the  Irish  in  America  that  troops  from  Erin 
were  being  assigned  to  the  most  dangerous  posts 
and  the  bloodiest  attacks  and  subjected  to  the 
most  severe  enemy  fire  in  France,  and  that  the 
hated  British  were  dragging  Irish  boys  from  their 
homes  to  fill  up  the  ranks.  Between  September, 
1914,  and  April,  191 5,  funds  amounting  to  $80,- 
000  for  the  purchase  of  arms  and  the  printing  of 
seditious  papers  and  leaflets  were  forwarded  from 
America  to  Dublin  banks,  and  then  mysteriously 
were  withdrawn.  An  inflammatory  publication 
known  as  Bull,  published  by  O'Leary,  and  not 
barred  from  the  mails  until  September,  191 7,  went 
broadcast  over  the  United  States,  inciting  bitter- 
ness against  England,  and  found  a  greedy  circle 
of  readers  in  the  German-American  population. 
John  Devoy,  a  Sinn  Feiner  of  standing  in  Amer- 
ica, fanned  the  flame  Vv^ith  a  newspaper  known 
as  the  Gaelic  American,  published  in  New  York, 
and  it  is  this  American-printed  sheet  which  fur- 
nished the  Irish  revolutionists  with  material  for 
a  part  of  the  plot  which  they  were  preparing  for 
fruition  in  the  year  19 16. 

In  191 6  Sir  Roger  Casement,  an  Irish  knight, 
made  his  way  into  Germany.     He  was  permitted 


Copjrieht.     Inttrnational    Film    Sen'i 


Jeremiah  A.  O'Leary 


Mexico,  Ireland,  and  Bolo  303 

to  visit  the  prison  camp  at  Limburg  where  some 
3,000  Irish  prisoners  of  war  were  quartered,  and 
he  moved  about  among  them  attempting  to  ob- 
tain enhstments  in  an  army  which  was  to  effect  a 
coup  in  Dubh'n  to  overthrow  the  British  govern- 
ment in  the  Castle  and  to  proclaim  an  Irish  Re- 
pu1)lic.  He  circulated  numerous  copies  of  the 
Gaelic  American  to  arouse  the  men.  He  was 
variously  received.  Some  of  the  prisoners  held 
their  release  worth  treason — but  only  fifty-odd. 
The  greater  majority  rejected  Sir  Roger's  offer, 
and  some  even  chose  to  curse  and  spit  at  the  sug- 
gestion that  they  break  their  oaths  of  allegiance 
to  Great  Britain.  He  succeeded,  hov/ever,  in  en- 
listing German  financial  assistance,  and  in  early 
April,  1916,  a  cargo  of  captured  Russian  arms 
and  ammunition  was  forwarded  to  Kiel  and 
loaded  into  the  German  auxiliary  steamship  Aud. 
Some  11,000  revolutionists  were  in  a  state  of 
mental  if  not  martial  mobilization  in  Ireland  by 
this  time.  There  were  in  Dublin  some  825  rifles. 
But  so  cleverly  were  the  volunteers'  orders  passed 
from  member  to  member,  that  Sir  Matthew  Na- 
than, Under-Secretary  of  State  for  Ireland,  testi- 
fied later  that  he  did  not  know  until  three  days 
before  the  outbreak  occurred  that  German  inter- 
ests were  cooperating.  Evidently,  however,  sym- 
pathizers in  America  knew  it  full  well,  for  in 


304     Tlie  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

the  von  Igel  papers  captured  in  von  Papen's  of- 
fice in  New  York  was  found  the  following  mes- 
sage to  von  Bernstorff : 

"New  York,  April  17,  1916. 

"Judge  Cohalan  requests  the  transmission  of  the  fol- 
lowing remarks : 

"The  revolution  in  Ireland  can  only  be  successful  if 
supported  from  Germany,  otherwise  England  will  be  able 
to  suppress  it,  even  though  it  be  only  after  hard  struggles. 
Therefore,  help  is  necessary.  This  should  consist  pri- 
marily of  aerial  attacks  in  England  and  a  diversion  of  the 
fleet  simultaneously  with  Irish  revolution.  Then,  if  pos- 
sible, a  landing  of  troops,  arms,  and  ammunition  in  Ire- 
land, and  possibly  some  officers  from  Zeppelins.  This 
would  enable  the  Irish  ports  to  be  closed  against  England 
and  the  establishment,  of  stations  for  submarines  on  the 
Irish  coast  and  the  cutting  off  of  the  supply  of  food  for 
England.  The  services  of  the  revolution  may  therefore 
decide  the  war. 

"He  asks  that  a  telegram  to  this  effect  be  sent  to  Ber- 
lin." 

Presumably  such  a  telegram  was  sent,  although 
on  April  17  Sir  Roger,  with  his  recruits,  was  at 
Kiel.  Three  days  before  the  Berlin  press  bureau 
had  authorized  the  issuance  of  a  despatch  through 
the  semi-official  Overseas  News  Agency  that  "po- 
litical rioting  in  Ireland  is  increasing."  On  the 
same  day  a  news  item  was  published  in  Copen- 
hagen stating  that  Sir  Roger  had  been  arrested  in 


Mexico,  Ireland,  and  Bolo  305 

Germany  to  allay  any  suggestion  that  he  was  en- 
gaged in  any  other  enterprise.  On  the  afternoon 
of  Thursday,  April  20,  a  German  submarine  stuck 
its  conning  tower  out  of  water  off  Tralee,  on  the 
Irish  coast.  Three  men  presently  emerged,  un- 
folded a  collapsible  boat,  and  rowed  ashore  in  it. 
The  three  were  Casement  and  two  of  his  hench- 
men, come  home  to  Ireland  to  spread  the  news 
that  German  arms  and  German  aid  were  at  hand. 
Off  the  southwest  coast  the  patrol  ship  Bluebell 
of  the  British  Navy  sighted,  on  Good  Friday 
morning,  a  ship  flying  the  Norwegian  flag,  and 
calling  herself,  in  answer  to  the  Bluebell's  hail, 
the  And,  out  of  Bergen  for  Genoa.  Under  the 
persuasive  effect  of  a  warning  shot  from  the  Blue- 
bell the  Aud  followed  her  as  far  as  Daunt's  Rock, 
where  her  crew  of  German  sailors  set  fire  to  her, 
hoisted  the  German  naval  ensign,  abandoned  ship, 
and  then  surrendered  under  fire.  The  Aud  sank, 
carrying  the  arms  for  Irish  revolution  with  her. 
Sir  Roger  was  arrested  in  hiding,  and  on  Easter 
Sunday  Dublin  broke  out  in  revolt.  On  Monday 
a  cipher  message  reached  O'Leary,  telling  him  of 
the  uprising  hours  before  the  British  censor  per- 
mitted the  news  story  to  cross  the  ocean.  John 
Devoy  burst  out  in  a  heated  charge  in  the  Gaelic 
American  that — 

"The  sinking  of  the  German  ship  loaded  with 


806     The  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

arms  and  ammunition  .  .  .  was  the  direct  result 
of  information  treacherously  given  to  the  British 
Government  by  a  member  of  the  Washington 
Administration  .  .  .  Wilson's  officials  obtained 
the  information  by  an  act  of  lawlessness,  a  viola- 
tion of  international  law  and  of  American  law, 
committed  with  the  deliberate  purpose  of  helping 
England,  and  it  was  promptly  put  at  the  disposal 
of  the  British  Government  .  .  ." 

This  charge  was  denied  at  once  from  Washing- 
ton. The  specific  ''violation  of  international  law 
and  of  American  law"  to  which  Devoy  referred 
was  generally  supposed  to  be  the  seizure  of 
the  von  Tgel  papers,  for  the  accusation  is  the  same 
as  that  which  von  Igel  made  when  his  office  was 
raided.  How  Devoy  knew  that  the  von  Igel 
papers  contained  information  of  the  proposed  ex- 
pedition from  Kiel  to  Ireland  is  a  question  which 
Devoy  has  no  doubt  had  to  ansv/er  to  the  Gov- 
ernment of  the  United  States  since  then.  He  and 
O'Leary,  with  Dennis  Spellisy,  who  had  collected 
large  sums  of  money  for  the  Sinn  Fein  cause, 
were  loud  in  their  protests  against  the  execution 
of  the  ringleaders  of  the  revolt  on  May  3rd, 
which  put  a  sharp  end  to  the  endeavors  of  the 
revolutionists.  That  O'Leary  was  knovv^n  to  the 
German  system  of  secret  agents  in  America 
needs  no  further  substantiation.     To  credit  him 


Mexico,  Ireland,  and  Bolo  307 

with  generalship,  however,  would  be  doing 
him  too  great  honor  and  the  Irish-American 
population  injustice;  O'Leary  was  bitterly  pro- 
German,  but  so  were  hundreds  of  more  prom- 
inent and  influential  Irish-Americans:  one  could 
find  the  names  of  several  New  York  Justices 
upon  the  roster  of  the  Friends  of  Peace.  Sir 
Roger  Casement  petitioned  for  a  Philadelphia 
lawyer  at  his  trial  for  treason,  and  Sir  Roger's 
sister  attempted  unsuccessfully  to  reach  President 
Wilson,  through  his  secretary,  Joseph  P.  Tu- 
multy, in  an  effort  to  bring  about  intercession 
in  the  doomed  knight's  favor.  (Mr.  Tumulty 
was  approached  more  than  once  by  persons 
whom  he  had  reason  to  suspect  of  alloyed  motives 
who  desired  to  "set  forth  a  case  to  the  Presi- 
dent.") The  link  between  the  old  country 
and  the  new  is  close,  the  future  of  Ireland  is  one 
of  more  than  usual  interest  and  concern  to  the 
United  States,  and  the  fact  that  the  great  ma- 
jority of  Irish- Americans  have  subordinated  their 
insular  convictions  to  the  greater  conviction  of 
loyalty  to  their  adopted  land  is  at  once  a  fine 
augury  of  ultimate  solution  of  the  Irish  question, 
and  a  dignified  rebuke  to  the  efforts  which  Ger- 
man}- has  made  through  America  to  exploit  Ire- 
land. 

On  Washington's  Birthday,  1916,  there  came  to 


808     Tlie  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

New  York  one  who  posed  as  a  French  pubHsher 
and  pubhcist.  He  brought  excellent  letters  of 
recommendation,  and  was  well  supplied  with 
money.  He  was  personable,  and  well  sponsored, 
and  he  was  correspondingly  Avell  received. 
Within  a  month  he  left  the  United  States  for 
France,  with  appropriate  expressions  of  his  ap- 
preciation of  American  hospitality. 

In  April,  19 iS,  that  same  man  faced  a  French 
firing  squad,  guilty  of  having  attempted  to  be- 
tray his  country,  and  of  having  traded  with  the 
enemy. 

He  was  Paul  Bolo  Pacha,  Paul  Bolo  by  com- 
mon usage.  Pacha  by  whatever  right  is  vested  in 
a  deposed  Khedive  to  confer  titles.  Born  some- 
where in  the  obscurity  of  the  Levant,  he  came  as  a 
boy  to  Marseilles.  He  was  successively  barber's- 
boy,  lobster-monger,  husband  of  a  rich  woman 
who  left  him  her  estate,  then  cafe-owner  and 
wine-agent.  Then  he  drifted  to  Cairo,  and  into 
the  good  graces  of  Abbas  Hilmi,  the  Khedive. 
Abbas  was  deposed  by  the  British  in  1914  as  pro- 
German,  and  went  to  Geneva ;  Bolo  followed. 

Charles  F.  Bertelli,  the  correspondent  in  Paris 
of  the  Hearst  newspapers,  naively  related  before 
Captain  Bouchardon,  a  French  prosecutor,  the 
circumstances  of  his  acquaintanceship  with  Bolo, 
which  led  to  the  latter's  cordial  reception  at  the 


Mexico,  Ireland,  and  Bolo  309 

hands  of  Hearst  when  he  arrived  in  New  York. 
".  .  .  Jean  Finot,  Directeur  of  La  Revue,  .  .  . 
had  sent  him  a  letter  of  introduction  to  Mr. 
Hearst  and  had  requested  me  to  accredit  him  with 
Mr.  Hearst.  He  had  said  to  me :  'Occupy  your- 
self with  the  matter,  Bolo  has  very  great  political 
power ;  he  is  the  proprietor  of  Le  Journal  and  it 
would  be  well  that  Hearst  should  know  him.'  .  .  . 
I  made  the  voyage  with  Bolo.  ...  I  spoke  of 
Bolo  to  Hearst  and  the  latter  said  to  me,  *If  he  is 
a  great  proprietor  of  French  newspapers,  I  should 
he  very  glad  to.  .  .  .'  As  a  compliment  to 
Hearst,  Bolo  gave  a  grand  dinner  at  Sherry's. 
.  .  .  Bolo  had  two  personal  guests:  Jules  Bois 
and  the  German,  Pavenstedt.  .  .  ."  We  need 
draw  on  Bertelli  no  further  than  to  introduce 
the  same  Adolph  Pavenstedt  in  whose  offices 
Papen  and  Boy-Ed  had  sought  refuge  at  the  out- 
break of  war  in  1914;  Adolph  Pavenstedt,  head 
of  the  banking  house  of  G.  Amsinck  &  Co., 
through  which  the  attaches  paid  their  henchmen 
for  attempts  at  the  Welland  Canal,  the  Vanceboro 
bridge,  and  at  America's  peace  in  general.  Bolo 
had  made  Pavenstedt's  acquaintance  in  Havana 
in  1913. 

Four  days  after  he  landed  in  New  York,  and 
before  the  Hearst  dinner  (which  was  incidental  to 
the  plot)  Bolo  had  progressed  with  his  negotia- 


310     The  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

tions  to  betray  France  to  a  point  where  von 
Bernstorff  sent  the  following  message  to  the  For- 
eign Office  in  Berlin : 

"Number  679,  February'  twenty-sixth. 

"I  have  received  direct  information  from  an  entirely 
trustworthy  source  concerning  a  political  action  in  one  of 
the  enemy  countries  which  would  bring  about  peace.  One 
of  the  leading  political  personalities  of  the  country  in 
question  is  seeking  a  loan  of  one  million  seven  hundred 
thousand  dollars  in  New  York,  for  which  security  will  be 
given.  I  was  forbidden  to  give  his  name  in  writing.  The 
affair  seems  to  me  to  be  of  the  greatest  possible  import- 
ance. Can  the  money  be  provided  at  once  in  New  York  ? 
That  the  intermediary  will  keep  the  matter  secret  is  en- 
tirely certain.  Request  answer  by  telegram.  A  verbal 
report  will  follow  as  soon  as  a  trustworthy  person  can  be 
found  to  bring  it  to  Germany. 

"Bernstorff." 

Herr  von  Jagow  felt  that  even  at  that  date 
peace  with  any  belligerent  was  worth  $1,700,000. 
He  cabled  back : 

"No.  150,  February  twenty-ninth. 

"Answer  to  telegram  No.  679 : 

"Agree  to  the  loan,  but  only  if  peace  action  seems  to 
you  a  really  serious  project,  as  the  provision  of  money 
in  New  York  is  for  us  at  present  extraordinarily  difficult. 
If  the  enemy  country  is  Russia  have  nothing  to  do  with 
the  business,  as  the  sum  of  money  is  too  small  to  have 


Ctf^rithl,    InUrnulionu/   Film    Serx'ict 

Paul  Bolo  Pacha  (on  the  right) 


Meooico,  Ireland,  and  Bolo  311 

any  serious  effect  in  that  country.     So  too  in  the  case  of 
Italy,  for  it  would  not  be  worth  while,  to  spend  so  much. 

"(Signed)     Jagow." 

The  plan  approved,  the  next  step  was  to  pay 
Bolo.  Bernstorff's  cablegram  of  March  5, 
Number  685,  pleaded  for  the  money. 

"Please  instruct  Deutsches  Bank  to  hold  9,000,000 
marks  at  disposal  of  Hugo  Schmidt.  The  affair  is  very 
promising.     Further  particulars  follow." 

The  next  day  Hugo  Schmidt,  American  repre- 
sentative of  the  Deutsches  Bank,  sent  the  follow- 
ing wireless  through  the  station  at  Sayville  to  the 
Deutsches  Bank  Direktion,  Berlin: 

"Communicate  with  William  Foxley  (the  Foreign 
Office)  and  telegraph  whether  he  has  placed  money  at  my 
disposal  for  Charles  Gladhill  (Count  von  Bernstorff)." 

The  reply  came  three  days  later.     It  read : 

"Replying  your  cable  about  Charles  Gladhill  (von 
Bernstorff)  Fred  Hooven  (the  Guaranty  Trust  Company 
of  New  York)  will  receive  money  for  our  account.  You 
may  dispose  according  to  our  letter  of  November  24, 
1914,  to  Fred  Hooven." 

On  March  1 1,  Schmidt,  who  was  working  night 
and  day  to  consummate  the  deal,  wirelessed  again 
to  Berlin: 


312     The  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

"Your  wireless  received.  Paid  Charles  Gladhill  (von 
Bernstorff )  $500  (which  signified  $500,000)  through  Fred 
Hooven  (the  Guaranty  Trust  Company).  Gladhill  re- 
quires further  $1,100  ($1,100,000)  which  shall  pay 
gradually." 

Bolo's  affairs  were  promising  well.  He  had 
brought  with  him  from  Paris  a  letter  of  intro- 
duction to  the  New  York  manager  of  the  Royal 
Bank  of  Canada,  stating  that  he  was  the  pub- 
lisher of  Le  Journal,  which  required  a  large 
quantity  of  news  print  paper  every  day,  and  that 
he  had  been  commissioned  by  all  of  the  other 
large  newspaper  publishers  in  Paris  to  arrange  a 
contract  for  20,000  tons  monthly.  Bolo  con- 
firmed his  intention  to  perform  this  mission  when 
he  deposited  in  the  Royal  Bank  of  Canada  $500,- 
000  which  Hugo  Schmidt  had  drawn  from  the 
German  government  deposits  in  the  National 
Park  Bank  and  had  given  to  Pavenstedt,  who  in 
turn  checked  it  over  to  the  French  traitor.  It 
was  not  the  purchase  of  print  paper  which  in- 
terested him,  however,  but  the  perversion, 
through  purchase,  of  as  many  French  newspapers 
as  he  could  lay  his  slimy  hands  on;  once  in  his 
possession,  they  could  be  made  to  carry  out  a 
sinister  propaganda  for  a  separate  peace  be- 
tween France  and  Germany.  Germany  had 
offered,  through  Abbas  Flilmi,  to  yield  Alsace- 


Mexico,  Ireland,  and  Bolo  313 

Lorraine  in  return  for  certain  French  colonies, 
and  to  evacuate  the  occupied  portions  of  French 
soil,  and  by  painting  such  a  settlement  in  bright 
colors  to  the  people  of  France  Bolo  could  have 
served  Germany's  ends  effectively  either  by 
actually  accomplishing  some  such  settlement,  or 
by  weakening  the  morale  which  was  so  largely  re- 
sponsible for  holding  the  German  drive  against 
Verdun,  then  in  the  first  stages  of  its  fury. 

On  March  17,  the  Deutsches  Bank  wirelessed 
to  Schmidt : 

"You  may  dispose  on  Fred  Hooven  (the  Guaranty 
Trust  Company)  on  behalf  Charles  Gladhill  (von  Bern- 
storff)  $1,700  (which  meant  $1,700,000)." 

Bolo  had  his  million  and  three-quarters,  which 
he  had  asked.  He  had  made  disposition  of  it 
through  the  Royal  Bank,  setting  a  portion  aside 
to  his  wife's  credit,  depositing  another  portion  to 
the  credit  of  Senator  Charles  Humbert  (part- 
owner  with  Bolo  of  Le  Journal)  and  holding  a 
reserve  of  a  million  dollars  in  the  Royal  Bank 
subject  to  his  call.     Then  he  took  ship  for  France. 

Flis  final  arrangements  with  Pavenstedt 
prompted  von  Bernstorff  to  send  the  following 
message  on  March  20  to  the  Foreign  Office : 

"No.  692,  March  20. 

"With  reference  to  telegram  No.  685  please  advise  our 


314s     The  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

Minister  in  Berne  that  some  one  will  call  on  him  who  will 
give  him  the  password  Sanct  Regis  who  wished  to  estab- 
lish relations  with  the  Foreign  Of^ce.  Intermeciiary 
further  requests  that  influence  may  be  brought  to  bear  in 
France  so  far  as  possible  in  silence  so  that  things  may  not 
be  spoiled  by  German  approval. 

"(Signed)  Bernstorff." 

Von  Bernstorff  had  been  cautious  enough  dur- 
ing" Bolo's  sojourn  in  the  United  States  to 
negotiate  with  him  only  through  Pavenstedt,  in 
order  that  the  Embassy  might  not  be  com- 
promised in  an  exceedingly  hazardous  undertak- 
ing if  any  suggestion  of  Bolo's  real  designs  leaked 
out.  He  was  fully  prepared  in  such  an  event  to 
repudiate  Pavenstedt,  and  to  state  honestly  that 
he  had  never  seen  or  heard  of  Bolo,  for  until  the 
day  before  he  left,  when  Pavenstedt  asked  the 
Ambassador  for  the  telegram  of  introduction 
quoted  above,  Bernstorff  did  not  know  Bolo's 
name.  That  he  did  know  it  then,  and  that  he 
discussed  Bolo  with  Berlin  during  April  and  May 
is  evident  from  the  following  cable,  sent  from 
the  Foreign  Secretary  to  the  Embassy  at  Wash- 
ington on  May  31 : 

"Number  206.  May  31st.  The  person  announced  in 
telegram  692  of  March  20th  has  not  yet  reported  himself 
at  the  Legation  at  Berne.  Is  there  any  more  news  on 
your  side  of  Bolo?  ,,t  » 


Mexico,  Ireland,  and  Bolo  815 

There  was  not,  although  Bolo  was  keeping  the 
cables  hot  with  messages  directing  the  further 
transfer  of  the  nest-egg  of  v$i, 700,000  which  he 
had  acquired  in  his  month  in  New  York.  He 
wanted  the  money  credited  to  the  account  of 
Senator  Humbert  in  J.  P.  Morgan  &  Co.,  then 
through  Morgan,  Harjes  &  Co.  of  Paris  he  di- 
rected the  remittance  of  his  funds  to  Paris,  then 
cancelled  those  instructions  and  directed  that  his 
million  be  credited  to  him  in  Perrier  &  Cie.,  in 
which  he  was  interested.  What  twists  and  turns 
of  fate  occasioned  the  juggling  of  these  funds 
after  he  returned  to  France  is  not  known,  but  cer- 
tainly no  bag  of  plunder  ever  passed  through 
more  artful  manipulation.  The  explanation  of 
its  hectic  adventures  may  lie  in  the  fact  that  the 
spectacle  of  Bolo,  commissioned  to  go  to  the 
United  States  to  spend  money  for  news  print,  and 
returning  with  nearly  two  millions  of  dollars, 
would  have  interested  the  French  police. 

For  more  than  a  year  he  covered  his  tracks. 
wShortly  after  his  return  the  Bonnet  Rouge,  the 
declining  publication  which  served  ex-Premier 
Joseph  Caillaux  as  mouthpiece,  began  to  attract 
attention  for  its  discussion  of  peace  propaganda. 
A  strain  of  pessimism  over  the  conduct  of  the 
war  began  to  make  itself  apparent  in  other 
journals.     The  arrest  of  Duval  and  Almereyda 


316     The  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

of  the  Bonnet  Rouge  disclosed  certain  of  Bolo  s 
activities  and  a  search  of  his  house  in  February 
revealed  papers  covering  certain  of  his  financial 
transactions  in  America.  The  United  States  was 
requested  to  investigate,  and  refused,  as  the  affair 
was  considered  political,  and  it  was  not  until  we 
joined  France  in  the  v^^ar  that  the  request  was  re- 
peated, this  time  with  better  success. 

Attorney-General  Merton  Lewis  of  New  York 
State  conducted  an  investigation  which  revealed 
every  step  of  Bolo's  operations  in  New  York. 
His  search  of  the  records  of  the  l^anks  involved 
indicated  that  a  fund  of  some  $50,000,000  in  cash 
and  negotiable  securities  lay  on  deposit  in 
America  which  the  Deutsches  Rank  could  place 
at  the  disposal  of  von  Bernstorff  and  his  fellow 
conspirators  at  any  time  for  any  purpose,  and 
which  was  adequate  as  a  reserve  for  any  enter- 
prise which  might  present  itself.  The  evidence 
against  Bolo  was  forwarded  to  Paris,  and  he  was 
arrested.  On  October  4,  19 17,  Secretary  Lan- 
sing made  public  the  correspondence  which  the 
State  Department  had  intercepted. 

The  French  public  became  hysterically  in- 
terested in  the  case.  Senator  Humbert  promptly 
refunded  the  5,500,000  francs  which  he  had  re- 
ceived from  Bolo  for  1,600  shares  in  Le  Journal. 
Almereyda    of    the    Bonnet    Rouge    committed 


Mexico,  Ireland,  and  Bolo  317 

suicide  in  prison;  his  death  dragged  Malvy, 
Minister  of  the  Interior  under  Ribot,  out  of  office 
under  suspicion  of  trading  with  the  enemy;  the 
editor  of  a  Paris  financial  paper  was  imprisoned 
on  the  same  charge;  "Boloism"  became  a  generic 
term,  and  the  French  government,  f  eehng  a  grow- 
ing restlessness  on  the  part  of  the  public,  en- 
couraged the  new  diversion  of  spy-hunting  which 
resulted  in  the  exposure  of  negotiations  between 
Caillaux  and  German  representatives  in  Buenos 
Aires.  Russia  had  been  dissolved  by  similar 
German  propaganda,  Italy,  after  vigorous  ad- 
vances into  Italia  Irridenta,  had  had  her  military 
resistance  sapped  by  another  such  campaign  as 
Bolo  proposed  for  France,  and  had  retreated  to 
the  Po  valley;  the  sum  total  of  "Boloism"  during 
the  autumn  and  winter  of  191 7- 19 18  was  an  in- 
creased conviction  on  the  part  of  the  Allied 
peoples  that  the  line  must  be  held  more  firmly 
than  ever,  while  the  rear  was  combed  for  prom- 
inent traitors. 

Thus,  a  year  before  she  entered  war,  the  United 
States  supplied  the  scene  of  one  of  the  outstanding 
intrigues  of  the  war.  How  voluble  was  Adolph 
Pavenstedt  in  confessing  his  services  as  interme- 
diary for  the  Kaiser ;  Pavenstedt  was  interned  in 
an  American  prison  camp  ...  a  rather  comfort- 
able camp.     Hugo  Schmidt,  who  on  his  own  tes- 


318     The  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

timony  was  the  accredited  manipulator  of  enor- 
mous sums  for  the  German  government,  was 
ingenuous  to  a  degree  in  his  denial  of  any  knowl- 
edge of  what  the  money  paid  Bolo  was  to  be  used 
for ;  Schmidt  was  interned.     Bolo  was  shot. 

Revolution  in  India,  a  battle  royal  on  the 
Central  American  isthmus,  a  revolution  in 
Mexico,  uprisings  in  the  West  Indies,  a  separate 
peace  in  France — these  were  ambitious  under- 
takings. For  three  years  they  were  cleared 
through  Washington,  D.  C.  We  must  accept 
that  fact  not  alone  with  the  natural  feeling  of 
chagrin  which  it  evokes,  but  with  an  eye  to  the 
future.  We  should  congratulate  our  smug  selves 
that  our  country  was  concerned  only  with  the 
processes  of  these  intrigues,  and  was  not  subject 
directly  to  their  results.  And  then  we  Americans 
should  ask  ourselves  whether  It  is  not  logical  that, 
our  country  having  served  as  the  most  fertile 
ground  for  German  demoralization  of  other 
nations,  we  should  be  on  our  guard  for  a  similar 
plot  against  ourselves. 

That  plot  will  not  come  noisily,  obviously.  It 
will  be  no  crude  effort  to  suggest  that  ''American 
troops  are  suffering  at  the  hands  of  the  French 
high  command."  It  will  not  be  phrased  In  terms 
which  reek  of  the  Wllhelmstrasse — earnest, 
plodding,  grotesque  German  polysyllables.     The 


Mexico,  Ireland,  and  Bolo  319 

German  knows  that  an  army  must  depend  upon 
the  hearts  of  its  people,  and  he  reasons :  "I  shall 
attack  the  hearts  of  the  people,  and  I  believe  that 
if  it  is  a  good  principle  to  attack  my  enemy  from 
the  rear  through  his  people,  it  is  also  a  good  prin- 
ciple to  attack  his  people  from  the  rear.  The 
heart  is  as  near  the  back  as  it  is  the  front,  nicht 
wahrf"  The  plot  will  seem,  in  its  early  stages, 
part  and  parcel  of  our  daily  life  and  concern ;  we 
shall  not  see  the  German  hand  in  it;  the  hand 
will  be  so  concealed  as  not  even  to  excite  the 
enthusiasm  of  the  German-American,  often  a 
good  danger-signal.  It  will  involve  institutions 
and  individuals  whom  we  have  trusted,  and  Vv^e 
shall  take  sides  in  the  controversy,  and  we  shall 
grow  violently  pro-this  and  anti-that.  We  shall 
grow  sick  of  the  wretchedness  of  affairs,  per- 
haps, and  we  shall  lose  heart.  That  is  precisely 
what  Germany  most  desires.  That  is  what  Ger- 
many is  striving  for.  That  is  why  the  nobility 
of  our  citizenship  carries  with  it  the  obligation 
of  vigilance.  It  is  in  the  hope  that  each  one  of  us 
Americans  may  learn  how  Germany  works 
abroad,  that  we  may  be  better  prepared  for  her 
next  step  here,  that  this  narrative  has  been 
written. 


CHAPTER  XVIII 

AMERICA   GOES   TO   WAR 

Bernstorff's  request  for  bribe-money — The  President 
on  German  spies — Interned  ships  seized — Enemy  aliens 
— Interning  German  agents — The  water-front  and  finger- 
print regulations — Pro-German  acts  since  April,  1917 — 
A  warning  and  a  prophecy. 

On  January  22,  1917,  President  Wilson  set 
forth  to  the  Senate  of  the  United  States  his  ideas 
of  the  steps  necessary  to  secure  world  peace.  On 
the  same  day  Count  A^on  Bernstorff  sent  his  For- 
eign Office  this  message : 

"I  request  authority  to  pay  out  up  to  $50,000  (Fifty 
thousand  dollars)  in  order,  as  on  former  occasions,  to 
influence  Congress  through  the  organization  you  know 
of,  which  perhaps  can  prevent  war.  I  am  beginning  in 
the  meantime  to  act  accordingly.  In  the  above  circum- 
stance a  public  official  German  declaration  in  favor  of 
Ireland  is  highly  desirable  in  order  to  gain  the  support 
of  Irish  influence  here." 

The  money  did  not  have  the  desired  soothing 
effect.  Nine  days  later  Germany  announced  un- 
restricted submarine  warfare  as  her  immediate 

320 


America  Goes  to  War  321 

future  policy  and  the  head  of  the  German  spy 
system  in  America  received  his  passports  for  re- 
turn to  Germany.  He  was  succeeded  by  the  head 
of  the  German  spy  system  in  America. 

The  real  name  of  this  successor  is  not  known 
to  the  authorities  at  this  date.  If  it  were  he 
would  be  arrested,  and  punished  according  to 
whatever  specific  crime  he  had  committed  against 
a  set  of  American  statutes  created  for  conditions 
of  peace.  Then,  with  the  head  of  the  German 
spy  system  in  America  in  prison,  he  would  be 
succeeded,  as  Bernstorff  was,  by  the  head  of  the 
German  spy  system  in  America. 

And  so  this  absurd  progression  would  go  on, 
until  finally  there  would  be  no  more  spies  to  head 
the  system  on  the  American  front.  How  much 
the  system  would  be  able  to  accomplish  during  the 
painstaking  pursuit  and  capture  of  its  successive 
heads  would  depend  upon  America's  swiftness 
in  pursuit  and  capture.  Who  the  individual  in 
authority  over  the  system  is,  and  what  is  his 
structure  of  organization,  cannot  be  answered 
here.  But  it  is  vitally  necessary  for  every  citi- 
zen who  has  the  free  existence  of  this  republic 
at  heart  to  decide,  basing  his  judgment  on  cer- 
tain events  since  the  declaration  of  war,  what 
measure  of  accomplishment  the  German  spy  sys- 
tem shall  have,  and  what  it  has  already  efifected 


322     The  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

against  a  nation  with  which  it  is  now  openly  and 
frankly  at  war. 

Let  him  first  recall  that  in  his  Flag  Day  speech 
of  June  14,  1916,  President  Wilson  said  in  part: 

"There  is  disloyalty  in  the  United  States,  and 
it  must  be  absolutely  crushed.  It  proceeds  from 
a  minority,  a  very  small  minority,  but  a  very 
active  and  subtle  minority.  ...  If  you  could 
have  gone  with  me  through  the  space  of  the  last 
two  years  and  could  have  felt  the  subtle  impact 
of  intrigue  and  sedition,  and  have  realized  Avith 
me  that  those  to  whom  you  have  intrusted  au- 
thority are  trustees  not  only  of  the  power  but 
also  of  the  very  spirit  and  purpose  of  the  United 
States,  you  would  realize  with  me  the  solemnity 
with  which  I  look  upon  the  sublime  symbol  of 
our  unity  and  power." 

Let  him  then  refer  to  the  President's  Flag  Day 
address  of  one  year  later  (quoted  at  the  begin- 
ning of  the  book).  With  those  admirable  ex- 
pressions in  mind,  let  him  recapitulate  the  activ- 
ities of  German  sympathizers  or  agents  since 
February,  19 17. 

Ninety-one  vessels  flying  the  German  flag 
were  in  American  harbors.  Their  displacement 
totalled  nearly  six  hundred  thousand  tons — the 
equivalent  of  a  fleet  of  seventy-five  of  the  cargo 
carriers  on  which  the  United  States  later  began 


America  Goes  to  War  323 

construction  to  offset  the  submarine.  Months  in 
advance  of  the  severance  of  diplomatic  relations, 
orders  had  been  issued  from  the  Embassy  to  the 
masters  of  all  these  vessels  in  case  of  war  between 
Germany  and  the  United  States  to  cripple  the 
ships.  With  the  break  in  relations  imminent, 
German  agents  slipped  aboard  the  vessels  and 
gave  the  word:  the  great  majority  of  the  ninety- 
one  ships  were  then  put  out  of  commission  by  the 
368  officers  and  826  men  aboard.  The  damage 
was  performed  with  crowbars  and  axes.  Vital 
parts  had  been  chalk-marked  weeks  in  advance, 
so  that  the  destruction  might  be  effected  swiftly : 
delicate  mechanisms  were  mashed  beyond  recog- 
nition, important  parts  removed  and  smuggled 
ashore  or  dropped  overboard,  cylinders  cracked, 
emery  dust  introduced  in  the  bearings  of  the  en- 
gines, pistons  battered  out  of  shape,  and  the  ma- 
chinery of  the  ships  generally  destroyed  as  only 
skilled  engineers  could  have  destroyed  them. 
Out  of  thirty  ships  in  New  York  harbor,  thirty 
ships  were  damaged — among  them  the  liners, 
Vaterland,  of  54,000  tons,  the  George  Washing- 
ton, of  25,000  tons,  the  Kaiser  Wilhelm,  the  Pres- 
ident Lincoln,  and  the  President  Grant,  of  about 
20,000  tons  each.  In  the  harbor  of  Charleston, 
S.  C.,  lay  the  Liebenfels,  of  4,525  tons ;  her  crew, 
led  by  Captain  Johann  Klattenhoff,  scuttled  her 


324     TJie  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

on  February  i,  in  the  navigating  channel  oi 
Charleston  Harbor;  Klattenhoff,  with  Paul 
Wierse,  a  Charleston  newspaper  man,  and  eight 
of  the  Liehenfels  crew  were  tried  and  convicted 
of  the  crime,  fined  and  sentenced  to  periods  aver- 
aging a  year  in  Atlanta.  The  discovery  of  the 
damage  forced  the  Government  to  take  over  the 
vessels  at  once.  The  Department  of  Justice  has- 
tened on  February  2  to  notify  all  of  its  deputies 
*'to  take  prompt  measures  against  the  attempt 
at  destruction  or  sinking  or  escape  of  such  ships 
by  their  crews"  which  those  crews  had  already 
done;  and  the  customs  authorities  who  boarded 
the  ships  in  San  Francisco,  Honolulu,  New  York, 
Boston,  Manila,  and  every  other  American  port 
came  ashore  with  rueful  countenances.  The 
combined  damage  served  to  tie  the  vessels  up  for 
at  least  six  months  more,  and  to  require  expen- 
sive repair.  To  return  to  the  comparison :  a  fleet 
of  seventy-five  8,000  ton  cargo  vessels,  such  as 
have  since  been  built,  would  have  been  able  to 
make,  during  those  six  months,  at  least  four 
round  trips  to  France  each,  or  300  voyages. 

When  the  German  fleet  put  into  neutral  Amer- 
ican ports  of  refuge  in  1914  the  personnel  of  its 
ships  totalled  476  officers  and  4,980  men.  When 
the  ships  were  seized  in  1917,  there  were  368 
officers  and  826  men  aboard.     Of  those  who  had 


America  Goes  to  War  325 

been  discharged  or  allowed  indefinite  shore  leave 
a  considerable  number  were  active  German 
agents,  by  far  the  great  majority  were  German 
citizenSj.and  the  United  States  was  on  the  horns 
of  a  dilemma:  either  each  of  the  sailors  ashore 
must  be  watched  on  suspicion,  or  else  each  was 
free  to  go  about  the  country  as  he  pleased.  Thus 
more  than  4,000  potential  secret  agents  from  an 
active  auxiliary  arm  of  the  German  navy  were 
dumped  on  the  hospitality  which  our  neutrality 
entailed.  When  war  was  declared  those  men 
came  within  the  troublesome  problem  of  the 
status  of  the  enemy  alien. 

What  was  an  enemy  alien?  The  United 
States,  on  April  6,  declared  war  against  Ger- 
many. "Meanwhile,"  reads  the  report  of  the 
Attorney-General  for  191 7,  "prior  to  the  pas- 
sage of  the  joint  resolution  of  Congress  of  April 
6,  19 1 7,  elaborate  preparation  was  made  for  the 
arrest  of  upward  of  6^,  alien  enemies  whom  past 
investigation  had  shown  to  constitute  a  danger 
to  the  peace  and  safety  of  the  United  States  if 
allowed  to  remain  at  large."  These  "alien  ene- 
mies" were  male  Germans.  Not  Austrians,  for 
the  United  States  did  not  go  to  war  with  Austria 
until  December  7.  Not  Bulgars,  nor  Turks,  for 
the  United  States  has  not  declared  war  upon  Bul- 
garia or  Turkey.     Not  female  Germans,  in  the 


326     The  German  Secret  Service  in  ^Lmerica 

face  of  the  full  knowledge  of  the  predilections  of 
Bernstorff,  Boy-Ed,  and  von  Papen  for  employ- 
ing women  in  espionage.  Of  the  thousands  of 
Germans  in  the  United  States  whose  sympathies 
were  presently  to  be  demonstrated  in  numerous 
ways  against  the  successful  prosecution  of  Amer- 
ica's war,  sixty-three  had  been  deemed  worthy 
of  arrest.  By  June  30  this  number  had  risen 
to  295,  and  by  October  30  to  895.  "Some  of 
those  interned,"  continues  the  report,  "have  been 
paroled  with  the  necessary  bonds  and  restric- 
tions." Although  the  United  States  went  to  war 
on  April  6,  Karl  Heynen,  who  managed  the 
Bridgeport  Projectile  Company  for  Bernstorff 
and  Albert,  and  who  had  previously  earned  the 
good  will  of  the  United  States  by  gun-running 
in  Mexico,  was  not  arrested  until  July  6,  in  his 
offices  in  the  Hamburg-American  Line  at  45 
Broadway.  At  the  same  time  F.  A.  Borge- 
meister,  former  adviser  to  Dr.  Albert,  and  lat- 
terly Heynen's  lieutenant,  was  arrested.  Both 
were  interned  at  Fort  Oglethorpe  and  dur- 
ing December,  Borgemeister  was  allowed  three 
weeks'  liberty  on  parole.  Rudolph  Hecht,  con- 
fidant of  Dr.  Albert,  who  had  sold  German  war 
loan  bonds  for  the  Kaiser,  and  who  had  also 
been  interned,  was  released  for  a  like  period  of 
liberty  in  December.     G.   B.  Kulenkampf,  who 


America  Goes  to  War  327 

had  secured  false  manifest  papers  for  the  supply- 
ship  Berwind  in  August,  1914,  was  arrested  on 
May  28,  1918,  more  than  one  year  after  America 
had  entered  the  war;  on  the  same  day  Robert 
J.  Oberfohren,  a  statistician  employed  by  the 
Hamburg-American,  was  arrested  and  in  his 
room  were  captured  compiled  statistics  covering 
the  exports  of  munitions  from  the  United  States 
during  the  two  years  past :  Oberfohren  said  he 
expected  to  turn  the  figures  in  to  the  University 
of  Munich  after  the  war. 

Bernstorff  himself  left  an  able  alien  enemy  in 
the  Swiss  Legation  in  Washington.  He  was 
Heinrich  Schaffhausen,  and  had  been  one  of  the 
brightest  attaches  of  the  German  Embassy.  As 
a  member  for  three  months  of  the  Swiss  Legation 
he  might  readily  have  sent  (and  no  doubt  did 
send)  information  of  military  value  to  his  own 
people  in  code,  under  protection  of  the  Swiss 
seal.  The  State  Department  on  July  6  ordered 
his  deportation.  Adolph  Pavenstedt  was  ar- 
rested on  January  22,  191 8,  in  the  Adirondacks, 
after  having  enjoyed  nine  months'  immunity; 
Otto  Julius  Merkle  was  not  interned  until  De- 
cember 7;  Gupta,  the  Hindu,  was  finally  caught 
in  New  York  in  191 7,  gave  bail,  and  escaped;  Dr. 
John  Ferrari,  alias  F.  W.  Hiller,  a  German  officer 
who  had  escaped  from  a  British  detention  camp 


328     The  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

in  India  and  had  joined  the  German  intrigue 
colony,  was  interned  in  January,  1918;  Baron 
Gustave  von  Hasperg  was  arrested  only  after  he 
had  displayed  undue  interest  in  the  National 
Army  cantonment  at  Upton  in  the  same  month; 
Franz  Rosenberg,  a  wealthy  German  importer, 
convicted  in  191 5  of  having  attempted  to  smug- 
gle rubber  in  cotton  bales  into  Germany,  and  fined 
$500  for  that  offense,  was  allowed  at  liberty  un- 
til February  9,  1918;  in  a  round-up  which  took 
place  in  January,  19 18,  the  Federal  authorities 
collected  such  celebrities  as  Hugo  Schmidt,  Fred- 
erick Stallforth,  and  Baron  George  von  Seebeck 
(the  son  of  General  von  Seebeck,  commander  of 
the  Tenth  Corps  of  the  German  army). 

The  cases  cited  are  picked  at  random  out  of 
a  mass.  They  illustrate  the  breathing  periods 
given  to  Germans  who  had  been  active  under 
Bernstorff  in  disturbing  America's  peace  and 
defying  her  laws.  They  serve  also  to  illustrate 
the  contrast  between  the  methods  employed  by 
the  United  States,  and  those  adopted  by  her 
Allies,  from  whom  she  has  taken  other  lessons 
in  the  business  of  warfare.  France  gave  alien 
enemies  forty-eight  hours  in  which  to  leave  the 
soil  of  the  country,  and  any  such  person  found 
at  large  after  that  date  was  to  be  interned 
in  a  detention  camp.     To  have  interned  all  of 


America  Goes  to  War  329 

the  Germans  in  the  United  States  would  have 
been  impossible  and  the  Government  took  some 
time  to  find  a  second  best  method.  By  May  2 
the  Department  of  Justice  was  in  a  position  to 
announce  that  it  had  plans  for  internment  camps 
for  three  classes  of  aliens:  prisoners  of  war, 
enemy  aliens,  and  detained  aliens,  and  it  an- 
nounced on  that  date  there  were  some  6,000  in 
those  classes  already  detained.  By  February  17, 
1918,  however,  there  were  actually  no  more  than 
1,870  aliens  interned  under  the  war  department 
and  under  military  guard  at  Forts  McPherson, 
Oglethorpe  and  Douglas,  and  some  2,000  at  Hot 
Springs,  North  Carolina,  in  the  Department  of 
Labor's  detention  camp. 

At  both  camps  the  prisoners  were  fed  and 
housed  at  the  expense  of  the  Government,  and  it 
was  not  until  the  early  spring  of  1918  that  they 
were  put  to  work. 

From  April  6  to  July  10,  191 7,  an  enemy  alien 
could  be  employed  by  any  shipbuilder,  tug-boat 
captain,  lighterage  firm  or  steamship  line;  he 
could  go  about  any  waterfront  at  will,  provided 
he  did  not  enter  the  so-called  "barred  zones"  in 
the  vicinity  of  Government  military  or  naval 
property,  and  he  could  make  unmolested  such 
observations  as  his  eyesight  afforded  of  the  ship- 
ping upon  which  the  United  States  depends  for 


330     The  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

its  share  in  this  war.  After  that  date  he  was 
forbidden  such  employment,  and  denied  approach 
to  all  wharves  and  ships.  On  July  9  the  Govern- 
ment discharged  from  its  employ  200  German 
subjects  who  for  weeks  past  had  been  loading 
transports  at  the  docks  in  an  "Atlantic  port."  A 
raid  on  the  Hoboken  waterfront  in  the  following 
winter  rounded  up  200  more  enemy  aliens  who 
had  calmly  ignored  the  "barred  zone"  regula- 
tions. 

The  Government  was  confronted  with  a  stu- 
pendous problem.  How  to  handle  with  its  nor- 
mal peace-time  police  force  the  great  unwieldy 
flow  of  the  alien  population  presented  a  con- 
stantly baffling  question,  yet  it  was  absolutely 
essential  to  the  control  of  internal  affairs  that  the 
Government  know  the  comings  and  goings  of  the 
enemies  within  its  gates.  The  date  of  February 
13,  1918,  was  eventually  set  as  the  last  on  which 
citizens  of  enemy  countries  living  in  the  United 
States  might  set  down  their  finger  prints  and 
names  and  file  their  affidavits  of  residence  and 
condition. 

What  facilities  had  the  United  States  provided 
for  transacting  this  great  volume  of  additional 
protective  duty?  There  existed,  first  of  all,  the 
Department  of  Justice,  whose  chief  function  in 
peace-time  had  been  the  enforcement  through  its 


America  Goes  to  War  331 

investigators  and  prosecutors  of  acts  of  Con- 
gress, such  as  the  so-called  Mann  "White  Slave" 
Act,  and  the  Sherman  ''Anti-Trust"  Act.  There 
was  the  United  States  Secret  Service,  a  bureau 
of  the  Treasury  Department,  whose  chief  func- 
tion had  been  the  detection  of  smuggling  and 
counterfeiting  and  the  protection  of  the  person 
of  the  President.  There  was  the  Intelligence 
Bureau  of  the  War  Department,  and  a  similar 
Bureau  of  the  Navy  Department,  both  under- 
manned, as  Was  every  other  branch  of  our  mili- 
tary forces  at  that  time.  The  advent  of  war 
brought  a  complicated  necessity  for  coordination 
of  these  four  branches  and  of  several  other  Fed- 
eral investigating  bureaus. 

The  German  did  not  wait  for  coordination. 
He  inspired  food  riots  among  the  poorer  classes 
of  the  lower  East  Side  in  New  York.  He 
opposed  the  draft  law,  rallying  to  his  sup- 
port the  Socialist,  the  Anarchist,  and  the  Indus- 
trial Worker  of  the  World,  under  whose  cloak 
he  hid,  not  too  well  concealed.  He  celebrated  the 
declaration  of  war  by  blowing  up  a  munitions 
plant  at  Eddystone,  Pa.,  on  April  lo,  1917,  and 
killing  112  persons,  most  of  whom  were  women 
and  girls.  He  sneaked  information  Into  Ger- 
many through  the  Swedish  legation.  He  tried 
to  promote  strikes  In  Pittsburg,  but  his  agent, 


332     The  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

Walter  Zacharias,  was  arrested.  He  tried  to 
dynamite  the  Elephant-Butte  dam  on  the  Rio 
Grande,  but  his  agent,  Dr.  Louis  Kopf,  was 
caught.  He  caused  a  serious  revolution  in  Cuba 
until  his  agents  were  expelled.  He  tried  to 
block  the  Liberty  Loans,  in  vain.  He  tried  to 
obstruct  the  collection  of  Red  Cross  funds. 
He  caused  strikes  in  the  airplane-spruce  forests 
of  the  Northwest.  He  assisted  Lieutenant  Hans 
Berg  of  the  captured  German  prize  Appam  to 
escape  from  Fort  ]\IcPherson  with  nine  of  his 
crew  in  October,  19 17.  He  erected  secret  wire- 
less stations  at  various  points,  to  communicate 
to  Berlin  via  Mexico,  whither  thousands  of  his 
army  reservists  had  fled  on  false  passports  at 
the  outbreak  of  war.  He  smuggled  information 
of  military  importance  in  and  out  of  the  country 
in  secret  inks,  on  neutral  vessels,  and  even  wrote 
them  (on  one  occasion)  in  cipher  upon  the  shoul- 
der of  a  prima  donna.  He  burned  warehouses 
and  shell  plants.  He  sawed  the  keel  of  a  trans- 
port nearly  through.  He  placed  a  culture  of 
ptomaine  germs  in  the  milk  supply  of  the  cadets' 
school  at  Fort  Leavenworth.  He  invented  a 
chemical  preparation  which  would  cause  painful 
injury  to  the  kidneys  of  every  man  who  drank 
water  in  a  certain  army  cantonment.  Fie  re- 
ceived Irish   rebellionists   and   negotiated   with 


America  Goes  to  War  333 

them  for  further  revolution.  He  made  his  way 
into  our  munitions  plants  and  secured  data  which 
he  forwarded  to  Berlin;  he  worked  in  our  aero- 
plane plants  and  deliberately  weakened  certain 
vital  parts  of  the  tenuous  construction  so  that 
our  aviators  died  in  training;  he  kept  track  of 
our  transports,  and  of  the  movements  of  our 
forces,  and  passed  them  on  to  the  Wilhelmstrasse. 
He  sold  heroin  to  our  soldiers  and  sailors.  He 
supplied  men  for  the  motor  boat  Alexander 
Agassis  which  put  to  sea  from  a  Pacific  port  to 
raid  commerce.  In  short,  he  continued  to  carry 
out,  with  multiplied  opportunity,  the  same  tactics 
he  had  employed  since  August,  1914. 

The  German  spy  in  America  continues  to 
attack  our  armies  in  the  rear.  He  is  here  in 
force.  A  word  to  him  may  mean  that  within 
twenty-four  hours  Kiel  will  know  of  another 
transport  embarking  with  certain  forces  for 
France.  He  is  here  to  take  the  lives  of  Amer- 
icans just  as  certainly  as  his  kinsman  is  firing 
across  a  parapet  in  Lorraine  for  the  same  pur- 
pose. Whatever  provision  will  save  those  lives 
must  be  made  swiftly.  The  Departments,  al- 
ready overtaxed  with  the  magnitude  of  their  task, 
ask  simply  that  they  be  given  the  weapons  to 
make  their  splendid  battle  on  the  American  front 
successful. 


334     The  German  Secret  Service  in  America 

Whatever  aid  and  comfort  the  enemy  may  find 
in  this  recitation  of  his  disgraceful  achievements 
and  graceless  failures,  he  may  have  and  wel- 
come. He  has  imposed  upon  the  hospitality  of 
the  United  States,  has  dragged  his  clumsy  boots 
over  the  length  and  breadth  of  their  estate,  has 
run  amuck  with  torch  and  explosive,  and  has 
earned  a  great  deal  of  loathing  contempt,  hardly 
amounting  to  hatred.  But  no  fear — and  that  is 
what  he  sought.  The  spectacle  of  what  the  dis- 
loyalists of  America  have  done,  and  the  easily 
conjurable  picture  of  what  they  would  do  if  Ger- 
many should  win,  are  graphic  enough  for  loyal 
America.  The  United  States  must  proceed  with 
incisive  vigor  to  cut  out  this  poisonous  German 
sore.  And  the  United  States  will  remember  the 
scar.     It  is  so  written. 


APPENDIX 
A  GERAlAxX  PROPAGANDIST 

In  1915  Fritz  von  Pilis  came  to  America.  He  had 
been  a  member  of  the  colonization  bureau  of  the  German 
Government  maintained  to  Prussianize  Poland,  and  later 
an  emigration  agent  of  the  North  German  Lloyd. 

He  posed  here  as  an  anti-German  Austrian  who  desired 
to  give  the  American  public  the  "true  facts"  of  Germany's 
intentions  in  the  war.  He  approached  the  Sun,  offering 
it  the  following  brief  of  a  volume  written  in  late  1914  by 
a  Prussian  Pan-German,  provided  he  (von  Pilis)  be 
allowed  to  write  a  commentary  to  accompany  the  outline. 
His  offer  was  not  accepted,  for  the  Sun  saw  him  in  his 
true  light  of  Prussian  propagandist  sent  here  to  spread 
the  gospel  of  might  which  is  preached  in  the  book. 

The  brief  is  offered  here  as  an  authoritative  platform 
of  Germany's  aims  by  conquest  as  the  Pan-German  party 
saw  them  after  a  few  months  of  war.  Many  of  these 
aims  have  already  been  achieved. 

(The  phraseology  and  spelling  is  von  Pilis'.) 
Denkschrift,  etc. 

General  War  Goal.  Weakening  of  foes :  discard  all 
"world  citizen"  sentiment  and  dangerous  objectivity  in 
favor  of  strangers.  We  want  peace  terms  based  solely  on 
our  interests. 

335 


336  Appendix 

Severity :  Let's  hear  no  more  of  "considerations  of 
humanity,"  "cultural  demands."  Must  impose  indemni- 
ties on  foes  and  take  land  in  Europe  and  overseas  to  lessen 
political  power : 

(a)  In  Europe  for  healthy  colonization. 

(b)  Colonial :  to  supply  raw  materials  and  take  finished 
products. 

(c)  Indemnities  to  be  devoted  to  common  social  better- 
ment of  German  people. 

Internal.  Rehabilitation  of  farmer  class  by  providing 
ample  land.     Combat  city  evils. 

( 1 )  Opportunity  provided  by  fate  in  this  attack  by  our 
foes. 

(2)  France  and  Russia  must  cede  land  near  our  gates 
as  punishment ;  estates  to  German  farmers. 

(3)  City  evils  to  be  remedied  by  better  housing  condi- 
tions;  by  war  indemnities,  not  single  tax.  (Cheap  rents, 
tenants  become  owners.)  (Gift  of  fate  through  foes.) 
Old  age  pensions  larger  and  at  lower  period  of  age  (65 
years  instead  of  70). 

Overseas.  Take  over  colonies  and  settle  by  Germans 
to  give  economic  independence  for  imports  and  exports. 
This  will  give  opportunities  to  eliminate  "intelligent  pro- 
letariat" by  use  elsewhere. 

Belgium.  Conspiracy  and  conduct  of  people  and  Gov- 
ernment show  Belgium  not  entitled  to  independence. 

(i)  All  well-informed  people  in  Germany  say:  "Bel- 
gium must  cease  to  exist." 

(2)  Impossible  to  take  into  German  people  with  equal 
rights. 

Rather  leave  with  indemnity  which  must  pay  anyway. 
But  we  need  the  coast  against  England. 


Appendix  337 

Belgium  to  be  property  of  Empire,  Kaiser  its  Lord  : 

Belgium  to  lose  its  name. 

Belgium  to  be  divided  into  2  parts:  Walloons  and 
Flemish. 

Kaiser's  officials  to  govern  as  dictators  of  province. 

Belgians  taken  into  Empire  to  have  no  political  rights. 
All  who  object  may  emigrate.  Walloons  unworthy  of 
being  "Germanized." 

France.  Must  "bleed  it  white"  so  as  never  to  be  at- 
tacked again : 

(i)  i.e.,  indemnity  and  land.  Land  from  Switzerland 
via  Belfort,  Moselle,  Epinal,  Toul,  Meuse,  Verdun,  Sedan, 
Charleville,  St.  Quentin  to  Somme  and  Channel  at 
Cayeux. 

(2)  France  to  take  over  and  indemnify  the  present  in- 
habitants. We  get  the  land  sans  dangerous  people.  Such 
expulsion  immoral?  Retribution.  Not  bricht  evisen! 
France'll  be  thankful  for  the  population.     Needs  it. 

(3)  Ceded  area  to  become  military  frontier,  adminis- 
tered by  dictator.  To  be  settled  by  Germans :  discharged 
soldiers  or  war  veterans'  families. 

(4)  Toulon  and  environs  to  be  made  impregnable  fort- 
ress on  land  and  seaside  for  base  on  the  Mediterranean. 

Rather  forego  all  French  territory  than  take  with  it  the 
hostile  French  population.  Walloons  to  be  kept  in  land 
only  to  furnish  mass  of  laborers,  lest  new  German  settlers 
become  industrial  laborers  again. 

England.  Its  world-rule  must  be  ended!  Can't 
formulate  demands  until  naval  warfare  decided.  BuUd 
ships  with  all  your  might! 

Japan.     Must  be  punished  for  white  race.     Revenge. 

Russia.     Must  be  put  hors  de  combat  by  permanent 


338  Appendix 

weakening.  We  must  forcibly  once  more  turn  Russia's 
face  towards  East  by  curtailing  its  frontiers  as  before 
Peter  I's  time.     Then  its  pressure  vs.  Asia. 

(i)  A  new  Poland  (off  G.  territory)  including  Grodno, 
Minsk  and  part  of  Mohilen  to  Dnieper.  Probably  a  king- 
dom with  personal  connection  to  Hapsburg  House. 

(2)  G.  to  seize  hegemony  of  Baltic;  take  Kniland, 
Livona,  Esthonia  and  Lithuania  safeguarded  by  terri- 
tories to  rivers  that  were  frontiers  of  R.  before  Peter. 

(3)  To  take  Suwalki  and  military  strip  of  Poland  to 
strengthen  Thorn  and  Silesia,  Soldau,  Wloclanek  Kolo. 

(4)  Finland  to  be  independent  or  go  to  Sweden? 

(5)  R.  to  lose  most  of  Black  Sea  coast. 

(6)  Ukraine  Empire  under  Hapsburg  for  "Small  Rus- 
sia." Bessarabia  to  Rumania.  Austria  to  get  good  part 
of  Serbia  and  Montenegro. 

How  avoid  clash  of  nationalities  in  newly  formed  terri- 
tories ?  Ans. :  By  forced  migration.  No  home  feelings 
in  Russian  farmer ;  R's  precedents  Siberia.  Exchange  of 
G.  settlers  in  New  Russia  for  R's  in  new  G.  (several 
years).  Possibly  so  exchange  Poles  in  Posen  too? 
Lithuanians  may  readily  be  incorporated  into  Poland  and 
Letts  and  Esthonians  to  be  left  or  transferred  to  Russia 
according  to  treatment  of  G's  in  this  war.  R.  Jews  un- 
thinkable in  G.  Empire:  Bar  their  migration  westward. 
Remedy  (i)  Bind  R.  to  remove  restrictions  vs.  Jews  and 
then  Jews  back  there. 

(2)  Zionism:  Palestine  to  be  ceded  through  G.  and 
A-Hung,  influence.  This — safe  wall  vs.  Jews  and  stimu- 
late migration  of  Jews  to  Russia. 

Prussia  to  get  New  Territory  in  East  or  else  form 
"Marks"  for  Germanization. 


Appendix  839 

Tenants  to  be  settled  by  public  grant  in  return  for  en- 
hanced realty  values. 

We  must  never  be  w^ithout  enemies  strong  enough  to 
compel  defensive  militia.  Fr.  and  Eng.  made  powerless, 
let  R.  always  threaten  us  and  be  our  foe;  that'll  be  our 
luck. 

The  Colonies.     French  Morocco,  Senegambia  &  Congo. 

Egypt  freed  from  England;  England's  colonies  in 
Africa  depend  on  developments. 

Tunis  to  Italy. 

Bizert  and  Damietta  (with  Italy's  and  A-H's  consent), 
D Jibuti,  Goa,  Ceylon,  Sabang,  Saigon,  Azores,  Caperdon 
(?),  Isls,  Madagascar. 

Austria-Hungary.     Heavy  indemnity  from  Russia. 

New  Poland  and  Ukraine  Empire  personally  united  to 
A-H,  North  half  of  Serbia.  South  I/2  to  Bulgaria. 
Guarantees  to  be  given  to  Germanic  minority  by  Slavs. 
West  Galicia  to  Poland.  East  Galicia  to  Ukraine  Em- 
pire.    German  to  be  Reichsprache  ? 

The  Neutrals.  Luxemburg  to  win  G.  Statehood  (too 
weak  to  control  B.  Luxemburg). 

Holland.  Avoid  pressure  politically.  Not  to  receive 
Flemish  Belgium.     These  need  strict  masters. 

Italy,  if  neutral,  Corsica,  Lower  Savoy,  Nizzia,  Tunis. 

Rumania:  Bessarabia  (Odessa,  if  she  joins  G.  in 
war). 

Bulgaria :  South  ^^  of  Serbia  (more  if  she  joins  G.  in 
war). 

Turkey,  if  enters  war,  heavy  indemnity  and  land  in 
Caucasus.  Integrity  guarantees  by  G.  and  A-H :  spheres 
of  influence  economically. 

Sweden  may  get  Finland  if  both  willing. 


340  Appendix 

Economic  unity  of  territories  and  G.  and  A-H.,  Switzer- 
land, Holland,  Italy,  Scandinavia,  Rumania  and  Bulgaria 
probably  join. 

Offensive  and  Defensive  Germanic  Alliance:  Scan- 
dinavia, Maybe  and  voluntarily  restore  settlements  of 
N.  Schlesvvig  to  Denmark,  if  necessary.  New  Germanic 
blood  needed  to  make  good  war  losses. 

Special  Demands.  Exclusion  of  all  East  people  from 
G.  soil ;  rights  to  expel  Letts,  Esthonians  and  Lithuanians 
for  25  years. 

No  colored  person  on  G.  soil, 

G.  high  schools  for  G's  and  foreigners  of  G.  descent; 
special  exceptions. 

Only  allied  officers  to  be  in  G,  army. 

Only  mature  and  fortified  G.  youth  to  study  abroad. 

Only  G.  language,  G.  fashions,  G.  Geographical  names. 

Steady  supply  of  grain. 

Subsidies  to  married  officers  out  of  war  indemnity. 

G.  nobles  to  marry  only  Germans. 


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